Sunnydale Beginnings
by emerald sorceress
Summary: AU. The prequel to Werewolves of L.A. Buffy Summers is an ordinary girl living an ordinary life until her Mom gets a job in a backwater town called Sunnydale. She thinks her life has come to an end. In fact, it's only just beginning…
1. The Harvest

**Title:** Sunnydale Beginnings

**Disclaimer:** I do not own BTVS, but I really wish I did. Angel leaving? Never would have happened.

**Pairing:** B/A (eventually), W/O, S/F

**Summary:** AU. **The prequel to Werewolves of L.A.** Buffy Summers is an ordinary girl, living a normal life, until her Mom gets a job as a museum curator in a little town called Sunnydale. She thinks her life has come to an end. In fact, it's only just beginning…

* * *

"Buffy?"

The teenager groaned and sat up in bed sleepily, stretching out her muscles and rubbing her eyes. "I'm up, Mom!"

"You don't wanna be late for your first day!"

"No...wouldn't want that," she muttered, dragging herself out of bed to begin the process of trying to pick an outfit to make a good impression with. She opened the wardrobe door and glared at the offending clothes inside. This was going to take a long time.

* * *

Mom was trying too hard this morning, thought Buffy grumpily as they pulled up outside the school gates. Joyce was way too cheery for a morning, probably because she didn't have to deal with worrying if she would fit in or whether she'd make any friends, or whether the fashions here were different than in L.A or if…

"Okay!"

Yep, way too happy.

Joyce smiled at her, though to Buffy it looked like she was forcing herself to be happy for Buffy's sake. "Have a good time. I know you're gonna make friends right away, just think positive."

She gave her a thumbs up, and Buffy just sighed. Parents had no clue how totally inconsiderate they could be when they decided to get a job out of town. Trying to squash down the rapidly rising feeling of irritation at her Mom for forcing her to move to a new place in the middle of nowhere, which had about as much social life as roadkill, she gave her a tight nod and then got out of the car, before she could say anything rude.

She was about to close the car door and face her destiny when her Mom spoke up again. "And honey?"

She looked back and this time didn't even try to hide her resentment.

Joyce faltered slightly and swallowed whatever she was going to say. She could practically see the black cloud over her daughter's head. "Have a nice day."

She received a grunt in return and then the car door slammed, leaving Joyce with the nagging feeling that her daughter quite possibly hated her for making them move. She sighed and drove off, resolving to talk to her about it over dinner tonight. That is if Buffy decided to talk to her at all when she got back.

As Joyce drove off Buffy took a deep breath.

She was calm, she was collected, she was cool… she was none of those things but she hoped no-one found out.

She was so worried about not looking like a petrified bunny caught in the headlights, that she completely missed the gangly dark haired boy crash into the stair railing on his skateboard.

* * *

Xander let out a grunt of pain as he crashed into the metal stair railing and skidded off his skateboard. "I'm okay. I feel good."

Willow walked around him, avoiding his flailing legs. She looked down at him, smiled and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "You know Xander, becoming a werewolf should have made you more graceful. Instead you uh, seem to have lost all sense of direction and balance."

"Love you too, Will," grimaced Xander, rubbing his aching back. "As long as nobody tells Angel 'bout this little accident I can keep my manly pride."

Willow laughed and they started to walk into the school building. "It's okay, Angel won't think any less of you."

Xander frowned, "How can he? I'm already at the bottom of the social scale anyway. The only way he could think less of me was if I was dead. No, wait, he'd probably like me better that way."

Just then Jesse came round the corner to stop Xander's grumbling about the alpha werewolf. "Hey, hey!"

"Hey, Jesse, what's what?"

"New girl!" he panted excitedly.

"That's right, I saw her. Pretty much a hottie!" Xander smiled at the memory. All that golden hair and she smelt so good. He wondered if he could accidentally bump into her sometime and get a better scent.

"I heard someone was transferring..." said Willow, dragging Xander back out of his daydream. Well if he couldn't fantasise about his new object of affection perhaps he could he get more info out of Jesse.

"So tell!"

"Tell what?"

"What's the sitch, what do ya know about her?"

"New girl!" he exclaimed and bounced a little.

Xander rolled his eyes at his friend. It was at times like this that Jesse reminded him of a dumb, if sweet, puppy dog. "Well, you're certainly a fountain of nothing."

Just then the bell rang and the group split up to go to classes. Xander rubbed the back of head with his hand and started to plan the excuses he could come up with to explain to his teacher why he hadn't done the essay. The dog ate it was the closest he could get to the truth, the truth being that in his transformed state he'd decided to taste what paper was like and had accidentally chewed it into a soggy mess.

He was gonna get detention, and what he needed now was a distraction, something so that he didn't have to go to class. That was when the new girl suddenly appeared in his vision out of the principal's office and promptly bumped into another girl, spilling all of her stuff onto the floor.

Xander looked upwards and grinned. "Nice work." He hurried over to help her and blurted out the first thing that came into his head. "Can I have you?"

"Sorry?" the girl shot him a quizzical look.

"Can I help you?"

"Thanks." She smiled gratefully.

"I don't know you, do I?"

"I'm Buffy. I'm new."

"Xander. Is, is me. Hi."

Buffy smiled uncertainly. "Um, thanks." She finished picking everything up whilst Xander tried to keep her with him for a few more seconds.

"Well, uh, maybe I'll see you around... maybe at school... since we... both... go there."

"Great!" said Buffy standing up and brushing herself off. "It was nice to meet you."

Xander watched her walk down the hall, wanting a huge hole to swallow him right there. "We both go to school. Very suave. Very not pathetic."

There was slow clapping from behind him and Xander grimaced as he noticed Angel leaning up against a wall, his arms folded across his chest, dark jeans and red shirt clinging attractively to his body, a smirk flashing across his features.

"Nice work Xand," he chuckled. "You really know how to turn a girl on. She was practically drooling at your feet."

Xander tried to ignore the jibe. He failed. "I see you've finally turned up to school. What, run out of college girls to sleep with?"

Angel shrugged the insult off. "I heard there was new blood around." He grinned and licked his lips. "Maybe I'll have to have a taste."

"Leave her out of this."

Angel raised an eyebrow. "Jealous?"

"No," said Xander. "I just don't want her getting hurt. We both know you're not the relationship type."

Angel frowned. "And what are you going to do, boy? Try and stop me?"

"If I need to, yes."

Angel growled. "Watch who you're talking to."

Xander was trembling but he stood his ground. "You're not pack leader yet, Angel. Giles is still in charge, you can't threaten me."

Angel smirked and his eyes flashed golden, his beast edging closer to the surface and forcing Xander's beast to become submissive. Xander panted with the effort not to tip his neck to the side and offer his throat in deference to Angel.

"Xander, I thought we'd already been through this. What I want, I get. I'm alpha, you're nothing, and whilst Giles is in charge now, we both know who would win if I challenged him for the leadership of the pack." His beast backed down and Xander was released from the power that had curled around him, causing him to stumble backwards slightly.

"See you around, Xander."

Angel pushed himself off the wall and stalked down the corridor like a predator, not even bothering to pretend to be human now that all of the students had gone to class.

Xander waited until Angel was out of sight and hearing distance before spitting out the blood from where he'd bitten his lip in an effort not to offer him his jugular vein.

"Bastard."

* * *

"Uh, hi! Willow, right?" asked Buffy, unsurely.

Willow jumped nervously and looked ready to bolt. "Why? I-I mean, hi! Uh, did you want me to move?"

Buffy chuckled. "Why don't we start with 'Hi, I'm Buffy,' and, uh, then let's go directly into me asking you for a favour. It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while."

"But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?" queried Willow confused.

"I can't do both?"

"Not legally."

Buffy exhaled. It was like Hemery all over again. "Look, I really wanna get by here, new school, and...Cordelia's been really nice... to me... anyway, but, um, I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumour that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up."

Willow smiled excitedly. This was something she could handle. "Oh, I could totally help you out! Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the library."

Buffy frowned. "Or not. We could meet someplace quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins."

Yep, like how there seemed to be something off with how the librarian moved, or the fact that she swore his eyes flashed golden as she swung the doors open. Or that he kept scenting the air when he thought she wasn't looking.

Willow however seemed to find this natural. "Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it though, it's a great collection, and the librarian is really cool."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies, and am I the single dullest person alive?"

Buffy smiled and thought of Cordelia. "Not at all."

At that point Xander and Jesse joined the two girls, Xander's eyes locking onto Willow's for a few seconds before smiling widely at the rest of them. To Buffy, it looked as though they'd managed to have a whole conversation in those few moments.

"You guys busy? Are we interrupting? We're interrupting." The strangeness of his previous actions was forgotten as Xander's odd enthusiasm spread over the rest of the group.

"Buffy, this is Jesse and that's Xander," said Willow by way of introductions.

"Oh, me and Buffy go waaay back, old friends, very close. Then there's that period of estrangement where I think we were both growing as people, but now here we are, like old times, I'm quite moved."

"Is it me, or are you turning into a babbling idiot?" said Jesse, an amused smile crossing his features.

Xander tried to quell his embarrassment. "No, it's, uh, it's not just you."

"Well, it's nice to meet you guys… I think," said Buffy, not knowing whether to laugh, or to try and be sympathetic to a rosy cheeked Xander.

Xander cleared his throat and tried to turn the attention away from him. "So what do you do for fun? What do you like? What do you look for in a man? Let's hear it."

"Do you have any dark, painful secrets you'd like us to publish?" added Jesse.

"Gee," said Buffy, a little overwhelmed. "Everyone wants to know about me. How keen."

"Well, not much goes on in a one Starbucks town like Sunnydale. You're pretty big news." Xander ignored the little warning voice in the back of his mind that sounded very much like Angel warning him off her.

Cordelia chose then to appear, her voice effectively managing to stamp out Angel's growled threats."Are these guys bothering you?"

"Uh, no!" said Buffy surprised.

"She's not hanging out with us," said Willow trying to salvage her new friends credibility and soften Cordelia's bitchiness towards them.

Unfortunately Jesse decided to ruin Willow's good work by trying to come onto Cordelia. "Hey! Cordelia!"

It was like watching a car wreck in slow motion thought Buffy, as she watched Cordelia brush Jesse off, like she'd just trodden in something disgusting. "Oh, please!" she faced Buffy. "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym was cancelled due to the _extreme _dead guy in the locker."

"What?" said Buffy, thinking she'd misheard. What kind of school was this?

"What are you talking about?" asked Willow.

"Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker!" exclaimed Cordelia.

"Dead?"

"Totally dead. Way dead."

"Not just a little dead, then?"

Willow and Xander exchanged looks. "Er, Buffy we've got somewhere to be now so, er…"

"Well, that's okay I can come with you if you…"

"No! No, that's all right, er, we gotta go, bye!" Without another word they were off leaving behind a very bewildered Buffy.

Cordelia just gave her a look. "And these are the people you wanna hang round with?" She shook her head and started to walk off. "I am surrounded by freaks."

* * *

"Giles! Merrick! Kendra! Yo, anyone?" called Xander coming through the library doors with Willow on his heels.

Giles popped his head from around the stacks of books. "Sorry?"

"You heard about the dead guy, right? The dead guy in the locker?"

Giles stepped into the light and made his way down the stairs. "Yes."

"Well?"

Giles sighed and took his glasses off to clean them. "Kendra is on the case and Merrick is helping as best he can."

"And? Does Angel know?"

"Yes." Two pairs of eyes looked at him expectantly. He put his glasses back on and assuaged their unvoiced fear that whatever had killed the boy was werewolf related. "But we think it was a vampire. That is more Kendra's area of expertise and nothing for the pack to worry about."

* * *

Later that night, Buffy had decided to go to the Bronze.

After all it was either that or listen to her mother prattle on about how good the move was for them both, when all Buffy really wanted to do was talk about how strange Sunnydale High was, and that she was pretty sure there was something up with the librarian, that there was a dead guy in someone's locker, that the school had it's own obituary column in the high school newsletter, and did nobody think that was a bit odd?

She'd had to escape before she started to scream. So she'd left the house and was now trying to find the Bronze, heading vaguely in the direction of the music she could faintly hear. The street was dark and pretty creepy actually, and you couldn't walk anywhere in Sunnydale without passing by at least one graveyard - the place seemed to be infested with them, as though dying was a really fashionable thing to do. She was crossing over the road when she got the first strange feeling that _something _was watching her. The feeling got stronger and stronger as she walked further on.

Whirling round she saw absolutely nothing. There was a young couple out walking on the other side of the pavement but they were completely engrossed in each other. A cat leaped out of an alleyway to her left, knocking over cans in its wake and she jumped.

"It's a damn cat, Buffy. Get a grip on yourself."

"You know talking to yourself is considered one of the first stages of madness."

Her head whipped round so fast she thought she was going to get whiplash. Her eyes landed on a young man leaning against an alley wall in the shadows. He stepped forward out into the moonlight and Buffy had to stifle a gasp at how good looking he was. Tall with dark hair and chiselled features, he was wearing very tight jeans and a dark shirt that moulded to his chest. He smirked when he noticed her gaze lingering on him and coughed slightly.

"Is there a problem, ma'am?"

Buffy hated being made a fool of and no matter how good looking her stalker was she was in mood to have people follow her in the middle of the night.

"Yeah, there's a problem. Why are you following me?"

He smirked. "Don't worry…I don't bite."

"What do you want?"

"The same thing you do."

Now it was Buffy's turn to smirk. She looked him up and down deliberately and then shook her head. "I really don't think we do." She began to walk away when the stranger called out to her.

"Buffy." She turned and caught the box he threw at her. "You've got to be ready."

"Ready for what?" she asked.

He didn't reply but she swore his eyes gleamed gold for a second. Startled, she put it down to the poor quality street lighting. He was just starting to fade back into the shadows again, but she couldn't let her mystery man go without finding out his name at least.

"Who are you?"

"Let's just say I'm a friend."

"Yeah, well…maybe I don't want a friend."

The man grinned wolfishly. "I didn't say I was yours."

She glanced down at the box in her hand again but by the time she looked up, the mystery man had gone and she was once again alone on the street. She opened the box gingerly, wondering what could be inside, only to discover a delicate silver cross and a chain. It was a lovely piece of jewellery and Buffy slipped it over her head, admiring the gleam in the moonlight.

It was only as she started to walk on again that she realised he'd called her name when she'd never told him it.

* * *

Buffy found Willow easily at the bar. She was a little surprised that shy, timid Willow was even in a place like this but she reasoned that the Bronze wasn't exactly like some of the clubs in L.A.

"Hey!" Willow looked up in surprise and then smiled when she saw it was Buffy.

"Oh, hi." Buffy took the stool next to her and asked if she was here with anyone. Willow shook her head and blushed.

"Nah, I thought Xander was gonna show up."

"Oh?" said Buffy "Are you guys going out?"

"No, we're just friends. We used to go out, but we broke up."

"How come?"

"He stole my Barbie…uh, we were five."

"Oh."

"I-I-I don't actually date a whole lot... lately," stammered Willow.

"Why not?"

"Well, when I'm with a boy I like, it's hard for me to say anything cool, or, or witty, or at all. I-I can usually make a few vowel sounds, and then I have to go away." Willow sighed enviously. "It's probably easy for you. I-I mean you don't seem too shy."

Buffy was about to reply when she glanced up casually and spotted the librarian on the upper level, staring out anxiously into the crowd below. "Um, Willow, don't take this the wrong way, but does the teaching staff like to come here as well?"

Willow frowned. "Sorry, what?"

Buffy pointed.

"Oh. Oh!" Her smile was strained when she looked at Buffy. "That's Giles… he just…likes to party with the students."

Buffy wrinkled her nose. "Isn't that kinda skanky?"

Willow laughed nervously. "Ha, ha yes er…I'll go and have a word with him." And with that she hurried off in the direction of the strange librarian before Buffy could warn her that this Mr Giles seemed a little bit _weird_.

Her view of both of them was obscured when a familiar face blocked her line of sight. "Xander!" She craned her neck round the boy to see if she could see them, but both Willow and the librarian were now gone.

"Buffy, hey…you're not going anywhere are you?"

She sighed and sank back into her chair. "Nope," she said, reaching up to toy with the cross round her neck.

"Who gave you that?" asked Xander curiously, desperately hoping that it was a relative or a female friend.

"This guy; dark, gorgeous, in an annoying kind of way."

Xander sighed. "He wasn't by any chance about six foot or so, with tight jeans and a smirk permanently on his features was he?"

"Why, do you know him?"

Xander looked pained. "Unfortunately, yes. That's Angel."

"Is he always so cryptic?"

Xander didn't reply but something flashed across his features that Buffy couldn't identify. "Just, be careful around him okay? Angel's _different_…dangerous."

"Does he go to school?"

"Did you just listen to anything I told you?"

Buffy shook her head. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes."

The two lapsed into silence when Xander suddenly realised he was missing someone. "Hey, where's Willow?"

"She left with the librarian."

"Oh." There was a significant pause before the words sunk into Xander's mind. "What?"

* * *

"Murder, death, disaster. What else?" wondered Willow as they walked down the corridor to class.

"Paranormal, unexplained, did you get natural disasters?" said Xander.

"Earthquake, flood," chipped in Faith.

"Rain of Toads?" offered Spike.

"Heya guys, watcha talking about?" chirped Buffy.

"Ah nothing," said Xander hurriedly, "We weren't talking about anything much just ya know, stuff."

"Right," said Buffy. "Come on, what is it, I can keep a secret?" She smiled at them eagerly.

"It's private ducks," said Spike, drawing an arm round Faith. "So piss off."

Hurt, Buffy recoiled and stopped walking with them. "Fine," she said, trying to mask the sting of rejection. "See you around." She started to walk off and Xander glared at Spike.

"Oh well done," he said and ran off after her. "He,y Buffy," he said as he caught up with her, having to jog to keep up with her quick pace.

"What?" she snapped, scrubbing at her eyes angrily.

Xander tugged on her arm gently and got her to stop walking for the moment. "Spike didn't mean what he said, he can just be a jerk sometimes, in fact, well, most of the time. He doesn't think before words come out of his mouth."

Buffy didn't look any happier but Xander carried on. "Er, right anyway, look we're your friends even if Spike is an idiot and so...look well, do ya wanna go to the Bronze tomorrow night?"

"With you?"

"Er...yeah...if you wanna…I mean we don't have to if you don't…"

"Xander." Buffy smiled at him. "Sure I'll go. I'll see you there at 9?"

Xander grinned goofily. "Cool, yeah okay."

She nodded and then motioned down the corridor. "Well, I better go. I've got class."

"Sure." He waved goodbye and then waltzed back to the waiting group.

"Well, did you sort everything out with Fluffy then?"

Xander grinned. "I've gotta date."

Spike almost choked on his cigarette. "What?"

"A. Date. With. Buffy."

Xander felt an arm on his shoulder. He closed his eyes in resignation. "Angel."

Angel glowered at him. "Xander."

* * *

The following evening the group wandered towards the library, opening the swing doors to find Merrick, Kendra and Giles all gathered around a thick text on the middle table, their faces drawn into dark frowns.

"I'm gonna go with bad news," ventured Xander, feeling Angel's eyes boring into the back of his head. He'd been glaring at him like that all day, and Xander hadn't managed to speak to Buffy alone at all, putting him in a bad mood.

"So, Merrick. Got anything that can make this day worse?"

"How about the end of the world?"

"Knew I could count on you."

The group sat down and Giles cleared his throat; then looked at Merrick. "Actually, perhaps it would be better if you spoke to them about this. After all you are the Watcher."

Merrick nodded and looked over the group seriously. "It is called the Harvest and it comes once in a century, on this night. The Master can draw power from one of his minions while it feeds. Enough power to break free and open the portal. The minion is called the Vessel, and he bears this symbol," explained Merrick to the assembled pack and his slayer, drawing a three-pointed star on a whiteboard.

"So, I kill anyone wearing dat symbol and dere will be no Harvest?" queried Kendra.

"Simply put, yes."

"Any idea where this little get-together is being held?" asked Spike, inhaling a deep drag on his cigarette.

"There are a number of possibilities…" began Giles.

"They're goin' to the Bronze," said Xander.

"Are you sure?"

"Come on. All those tasty young morsels all over the place? How can they resist?" There was no uncertainty in his voice.

"Then we should get there. The sun will be down before long," said Angel seriously and muttered low under his breath, "and I'm getting hungry."

Giles grabbed his coat and followed the others out of the room as they headed towards the Bronze, when something suddenly struck Xander.

"Buffy."

The others stopped and looked at him.

"Xander?" asked Willow worriedly. "Are you all right?"

Xander's face had drained of all colour, visions of Buffy's bloodless body swarming in his vision. "Buffy. I asked her to meet me at the Bronze tonight. Oh God, I've just led her straight into their trap."

Angel growled and started to change into his werewolf form. "Then I suggest we get there quicker, before something happens to her."

* * *

Buffy tapped the side of her drink idly as she checked her watch again for the fifth time. Xander was now half an hour late, and Buffy was starting to think she was going to be stood up. Not that she saw Xander in any way other than a friend, but it still hurt that he couldn't be bothered to be on time for her. She sighed and decided that if Xander wasn't going to show then screw it she'd go and dance with someone else. She'd been asked a couple of times whilst she been waiting but she'd brushed them off in the interests of politeness. Now she was on the hunt for a good dance buddy.

She stood up and drained her drink, before heading over to the shadow of the stairs. Where had that guy gone who'd had the really pretty eyes- was he upstairs? She was just about to make her way up when the lights were cut off. There were moans of complaint from the people around her and not being able to see well enough Buffy gave up on trying to go onto the upper level. She found a space under the stairs and waited, bored, for the power to be switched back on again.

It never was. Suddenly a man appeared on the stage and spoke to the crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! There is no cause for alarm. Actually, there is cause for alarm. It just won't do any good." He laughed evilly as the spotlight lit up his face which seemed to be contorted grossly or misshaped. His face had become ridged, his eyes glowing a sickly yellow colour and two fangs protruded from his mouth, where his lips were split into a leer.

"Vampire," whispered Buffy, before she'd even had time to process what she was actually thinking.

A vampire? No this was ridiculous, this was stupid, that man couldn't possibly be a vampire, he just had a really bad facial disfigurement and… was now drinking the blood of the doorman.

Okay, maybe now was the time to rethink about that denial. Buffy ignored the screaming people around her and tried to remember what she could from when her Mom and her had watched the old Dracula films they still sometimes played on late night T.V.

She wracked her brains…um, okay think Buffy think… oh oh! Stake through the heart that killed them right? She glanced around her for any wood and frowned when she saw everything was made of metal. Damn fire safety hazard checking…why did everything have to made out of steel these days? She spotted the back door and then noticed it was being guarded by two men who were vamped out, effectively trapping everyone inside the club. She felt herself beginning to panic as the vampire on the stage dropped his latest victim and laughed.

"Watch me, people. Fear is like an elixir. It's almost like blood." He licked a drop that was starting to trickle down his chin. "Next!"

* * *

The werewolves arrived outside the club and transformed from their wolf state back to human form again. Angel pushed against the entrance door, then slammed his fist against the solid iron, leaving a hand sized dent in it when he found it was locked.  
Kendra pursed her lips scanning the building as Merrick jogged up behind them, panting.

"I really wish you wouldn't do that," he breathed, trying to regain oxygen. "I can't keep up with a pack of werewolves and a slayer's speed."

Kendra raised an eyebrow at her Watcher and then pointed at the door."Dey can't get in," she said and then motioned to a window a good twenty metres up from the ground. "I'll go in dat way, you and de pack will have to try round de back."

Giles nodded. "Right, come on." They raced round the back of the club and Willow tried this door, which was also unsurprisingly locked too.

"No joy!"

Xander paced. "We've gotta get in there before I end up having killed Buffy!"

Angel growled beside him. "You better hope that doesn't happen boy, otherwise…" He didn't get to finish his threat as all of the pack heard the sound of shattering glass as Kendra broke her way in.

* * *

Back inside the club the vampire on stage was still talking. "I feel him rising. Every soul brings him closer! I need another! Tonight is his ascension. Tonight will be history at its end! Yours is a glorious sacrifice! Degradation most holy."

There was a stunned silence as the crowd stared up at him, horror-struck. "What? No volunteers?"

A female vampire with a seriously bad outfit and hair brought a struggling Cordelia onto the stage with the male vampire. "Here's a pretty one, Luke."

Cordelia started to scream and Buffy looked around for something to stop the cheerleader having all of her blood sucked out of her. No matter how much she disliked her, nobody deserved to die like that. Finding nothing she could only watch as those sharp fangs grew closer and closer to Cordelia's exposed throat. Suddenly another vampire was thrown onto the stage and Luke stopped what he was doing to watch a petite woman drop onto the pool table in front of him, whom he clearly recognised.

"You!"

Kendra nodded. "Me."

Releasing Cordelia, Luke now lunged for Kendra who appeared to be able to take care of herself as she launched a powerful roundhouse kick at his head. Buffy didn't stop to watch but started to usher people out of the back, where the back door was now not only unlocked but hanging off it's hinges. And were those claw marks? As the flood of people started to escape out into the night she bumped into something hard.

"Angel?" He looked down at her in surprise and then gave her a relieved smile…a normal, genuine smile without any of the self satisfied smirking that she'd seen earlier. He crushed her to him briefly and checked her over for injuries before letting her go. Wait, had he just smelt her hair?

There was the sound of something crashing onto the floor behind her and Angel moved her automatically behind him. "Get out of here," he growled and then taking one last look at her pushed her towards the exit, before being lost out of her sight as he headed back into the vampire infested club.

"Wait!" she called. "Won't you be hurt?"

But he'd already gone.

* * *

"I take it it's over," said Giles finally, sheathing his claws, as he glanced around the ransacked room of the Bronze. Tables were overturned, chairs thrown haphazardly around and ashes were floating around the room like confetti.

"Did we win?" asked Willow, her red-brown fur retracting into her skin.

"Well, we averted the apocalypse. I give us points for that," said Faith, brushing vampire dust off her self. She smoothed her hair back into its ponytail and took a cigarette from Spike.

Xander scanned the room again anxiously. "Did anyone see Buffy?"

Angel nodded as his eyes faded back from their brilliant gold colour to his human dark chocolate orbs. "Yes, we may have bumped into each other."

"So she's all right then?"

Angel grinned. "I'd say so."

Spike laughed. "Bet the poof here made sure she was more than all right, didn't you?"

Xander's eyes narrowed and he folded his arms. Angel just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Did you have something you wanted to say, pup?"

Xander growled but said nothing, his clenched fists turning white at the knuckles.

"One thing's for sure: nothing's ever gonna be the same," said Willow as they left the Bronze, trouping off into the night, an exuberant Merrick in deep discussion with his Slayer on how strong the Vessel had actually been, trailing behind them. Angel felt something watching him and paused for a moment to scan the Bronze. Finding nothing he loped off to join the others and put it down to the adrenaline still coursing through his body.

"Yes," muttered Buffy to herself, coming out from behind a pillar in the Bronze where she had been hiding. "You got that right." She ran her fingers down a set of claw marks that ran across the front of the bar and gouged down into the metal pole that ran along the front.

'Just, be careful around him okay? Angel's _different_…dangerous.'

Xander's words rang in her head and she shivered as she placed her fingers in the deep grooves. Hugging herself she hurried out of the empty club, eager to get away from the site of so much carnage. Still, as she walked home she found herself basking in the memory of a tight embrace and concerned eyes.

* * *

"Well, I heard it was rival gangs. You know, fighting for turf? But all I can tell you is they were an ugly way of looking. And there were these huge like, dogs! Which is just too weird. I mean, I don't even remember that much, but I'm telling you, it was a freak show!" exclaimed Cordelia.

"Oh, I wish I'd been there!" said her friend.

Cordelia nodded sympathetically. "You should have been there. It was so creepy…"

"What exactly were you expecting?" said Giles as the pack walked past the two chattering girls in the corridor.

"I don't know…something. I mean, the dead rose. We should at least have had an assembly," said Xander in disbelief.

"People have a tendency to rationalize what they can and forget what they can't," said Angel, pushing open the library door. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"What, what is it?" asked Xander, pushing past Angel until the entire group was inside.

Buffy, perched on the library table glared at them. "Care to explain what the hell happened at the Bronze last night?"

Angel sighed. "Then again, there are always exceptions."

* * *

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	2. The Witch

**Feedback:** YES! Feedback and criticism (but only constructive) is not only appreciated, it's one of the things that makes writing so much fun!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own BTVS, but I really wish I did. Angel leaving? Never would have happened.

**Pairing:** B/A (eventually), W/O, S/F

**Summary:** AU. **The prequel to Werewolves of L.A. **Buffy Summers is an ordinary girl, living a normal life, until her Mom gets a job as a museum curator in a little town called Sunnydale. She thinks her life has come to an end. In fact, it's only just beginning…

-#-#-

She raised an eyebrow at their explanation. "So you're all werewolves, 'cept for Kendra and Merrick, who are in fact, human with nifty powers".

"Actually," said Merrick, "only Kendra has special powers, as her Watcher I just…"

"Watch?" Offered Buffy.

"Yes! No!" He exhaled loudly. "A watcher, he, he trains her, he prepares her…"

"And what? Now she's got her own lil' group of blood hounds? Like Lassie?"

There was a loud growl from Angel. "We are _not _dogs…"

"But not human?"

Giles took his glasses off and cleaned them needlessly again. It seemed to be a habit of his, Buffy noted.

"In Mythology werewolves are entities that are human but shape shift into animal form during certain lunar aspects which affect their DNA. The wordwerewolf' or 'lycanthrope' actually comes from the Greek words lykoi, "wolf" and anthropos, "man". In reality the change can be voluntary (at will), or can be forced by certain cycles of the moon, for example the full moon and the two nights surrounding it."

"He loves saying that," said Xander to Buffy with a smirk.

Buffy exhaled. "Well that certainly explains a lot."

"If I may say so my dear, you seem to be taking this all in your stride." Buffy grinned at the librarian.

"Trust me, Giles," she said. "The fact that you're a werewolf, is so much a better deal than you being what I thought you were before." Giles looked confused and Faith popped her chewing gum at him.

"I'll explain later."

Buffy got up to leave when Xander grabbed her hand.

"So, we're okay then?"

"Yeah," she said. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Well, it's just you know with the whole, I turn into a rampaging beast three nights a month thing, most people would be freaked."

Buffy squeezed his hand. "Hey, three days of the month I'm no fun to be round either." She shifted her shoulder bag. "Right well I've gotta book guys otherwise I'm gonna be late for class."

Angel got up as well. "I'll walk you." Buffy smiled at him, the kind of smile Xander noticed, that she only gave to Angel, like suddenly he was the only thing in the room.

"Sure," she said casually. She turned and waved good bye to the group before walking out of the door, Angel placing his hand in the small of her back as he followed her out. The door swung shut behind them and Spike slapped Xander's shoulder in consolation.

"She's out of your league, kid. Especially now she and the poof are making cow eyes at each other."

Xander shoved the hand off him. "Gee Spike, you really know how to make a guy feel better."

Spike lit a cigarette and took a drag. "Well I'm only telling you how it is mate. You can't be mad at me for telling you the truth."

"Spike!" Said Giles crossly, as he began to file books away into the back shelves of the library. Xander smirked at Spike.

"At least someone supports me."

"Put that cigarette out, will you? There's a no smoking policy in the library, or in fact anywhere in the school grounds."

It was Spike's turn to grin. "You were saying?"

-#-#-

"So," said Buffy, as they walked through the school. "Do you have class this way, or…"

"Listen Buffy," said Angel interrupting her. "I know that you're fine with us all being werewolves but I don't think that…" He paused and searched for the right words.

"Don't think what Angel?"

"Hanging around with us is dangerous Buffy, you know that from last night, and maybe you should…"

"Stay away, is that what you want me to do?" Said Buffy angrily. "You don't think the poor little human girl can handle it?"

"No! I just want you to be safe, to do normal human things, rather than hang around with a bunch of lycanthropes who seem to attract danger."

"So what you're really saying is go away."

"No Buffy, you can still hang round with us it's just that…"

"When things get a little hairy you want me to run away and cower in the corner helplessly?"

Angel was starting to get annoyed now. "No, I want you safe, and I can't do that when you're around me."

"So now it's my fault I'm a distraction."

He growled. "You're not a responsibility I want."

"A responsibility? That's rich coming from you Angel. Do you even know what one of those is?"

Angel saw red and snapped back. "I'm an alpha male wolf Buffy, which means that the whole pack is my responsibility. I have to look after each and every one of them and make sure that they're okay, that in a fight they're covered. I can't do that when I've got a tag along human child to look after. You're a liability! I don't need to deal with someone whose stupid lovesick fantasies are going to get someone killed."

He regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. Buffy flinched.

"Wow," she said, trying to swallow past the lump in her throat. "You don't pull your punches do you?" She managed a small sad smile. "Well, at least I know what you think of me now huh?"

"Buffy I…"

"No, don't apologise." She sniffed and blinked suspiciously bright eyes. "Well I've gotto go, uh thanks for walking with me, I think I can find the class from here now."

"Buf…"

"Goodbye Angel."

He watched her walk away and tried to tell himself that it was all for the best. At least this way she wouldn't get hurt later on. He sighed. If this was a good thing why did it feel like someone had just punched him in the stomach and ripped out his heart? Ignoring the sick feeling in his gut Angel turned and made his way back to the library where he knew Spike and Faith would be.

He needed a cigarette.

-#-#-

"Cheerleading? Are you serious?"

"Yep," said Buffy. "I've signed myself up and I have tryouts this afternoon."

"But it's cheerleading," said Willow. "You have to mix with people like Cordelia on a regular basis."

Buffy managed a grimace. "Yeah but it's also human, the American dream and in no way supernaturally based. Plus I can't see Angel going to a basketball game so I also avoid him as well."

Willow frowned at her friend. "So you're doing this to get away from Angel?"

"And why wouldn't she?" Interjected Xander. "The bastard."

"No," said Buffy glaring at Xander. "I did it before at Hemery." She sighed. "And Angel's right. I am in the way and I'm gonna get you guys hurt. Cheerleading's a lot safer."

They walked through the doors of the gym. "Well, we're behind you," said Willow consolingly. "Angel's not always right you know. I don't think you'd be in the way."

Buffy smiled. "Thanks Will, but we both know the truth. Besides this is something I want to do. Honest." She glanced over at Xander who was watching Amber do splits between two chairs.

"People scoff at things like school spirit, but look at these girls giving their all like this!"

"Xander?"

The teenage boy shook himself and left whichever fantasy land he had suddenly gone to. "Sorry, where was I?"

The two girls laughed. "You were pretending that seeing scantily clad girls in revealing postures was a spiritual experience."

"Who said I was pretending?"

He turned to Buffy and casually handed her a bracelet. "Oh, hey! Here's a good luck thing for tryouts." _And also to help you forget Angel_ he added mentally.

"Oh, how sweet!" She turned the bracelet into the light to read the inscription. "Yours Always."

Xander laughed nervously. "It…it came that way, really, they all said that!"

Willow rolled her eyes but said nothing, groaning as she noticed Cordelia coming over to them.

"Just look at that Amber. Who does she think she is, a Laker Girl?" Buffy hid a smirk as she noticed how mad Cordelia was getting.

"I heard she turned them down," said Willow, nervously biting her nails, and watching as Joy (the cheerleading squad leader) stepped up with a clipboard and called for everyone's attention.

"Okay, listen up! Let's begin with Amber Grove. If you're not auditioning, move off the floor." Willow suddenly noticed Amy coming to stand next to her.

"Amy! I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader. You lost a lot of weight."

"Had to," said Amy matter-of-factly. Willow turned to Buffy next to her and introduced her. The two girls exchanged greetings and then watched as Amber began her routine.

"Oh, how I hate this, let me count the ways," muttered Amy as she watched the athletic girl begin with a needle-split lift followed by a double spin and a jumping double spin. After landing, Amber launched herself into her next steps whilst Amy muttered jealously to Buffy.

"She trained with Benson. He's one of the best coaches money can buy."

"They have cheerleading coaches?" Said Buffy worriedly. _Great, now I have no chance of getting into the team_.

"Oh, yeah! Don't you have one?" Said Amy surprised. "I train with my Mom, three hours in the morning, three at night," she added confidentially.

"Hmm, that much quality time with my Mom would probably lead to some quality matricide," joked Buffy.

"Oh, I know it's hokey. But she's really great."

The two girls focussed back on Amber's routine as she continued to amaze everyone watching in the small gym. Suddenly Amber's hands began to smoke.

"What the...?"

"That girl's on fire!" Said Willow astonished, horrified as Amber's hands caught fire. She screamed and dropped her pom-poms, flailing her hands in the air. Buffy jumped up onto the stands and pulled down a banner, before running back to the flaming cheerleader and knocking her down to snuff out the flames with the banner.

"It's okay, it's okay, you're gonna be... okay," comforted Buffy as she rocked the girl gently. Xander and Willow rushed over too, though they could do nothing more than stand around helplessly and wait for the ambulance to arrive.

"So much for cheerleading being the safe option," joked Xander.

"Now is _so_ not the time."

-#-#-

"Well, I've seen some pretty odd things, last night being the weirdest yet, but I've never seen anyone's hands get toasted." Buffy drummed her fingers against the table. "This isn't vampire related, is it?"

"No," said Giles.

"Just checkin'. But it is funky, right? Not of the norm?"

"Quite. Spontaneous human combustion is, is rare, and, and scientifically unexplainable, but there have been cases for hundreds of years. Usually all that's left is a pile of ashes." Giles scratched his head and then cleaned his glasses for the fifth time and counting in the space of ten minutes.

"That's all that would have been left if it hadn't been for Buffy."

"So, we have no idea what caused this. That's a comfort," said Xander humourlessly.

"But that's the thrill of living on the Hellmouth! There's a veritable cornucopia of, of fiends and devils and, and ghouls to engage." Everyone looked at Giles. He coughed, embarrassed. "Pardon me for finding the glass half full."

"So," said Buffy, trying to get away from the librarian's bizarre enthusiasm. "Any common denominators in cases of spontaneous combustion?"

"Uh, rage. In most cases the person who combusted was, was terribly angry or, or upset."

"So maybe Amber's got this power to make herself be on fire. It's like the human torch, only it hurts." Xander frowned. "Wait, that's a stupid theory."

"Well, you did come up with it Xander."

"Ooh, the G-Man gets witty." Xander glared at Giles. "So not appreciated at this moment."

Buffy rolled her eyes at the exchange. "Well, we need to get the skinny on Amber. Find out if she's had any colourful episodes before."

"That means hacking illegally into the school's computer system. At last, something I can do!" Said Willow gratefully.

"Well so much for not getting involved," muttered Buffy to herself. Willow's sensitive hearing still picked it up though.

"Are you okay with this Buffy? You can still leave if you're not…"

"What d'ya mean? We're a team! Aren't we a team?" Said Xander. "If Buffy wants to do this why shouldn't she?"

Buffy looked between the two of them and then made up her mind.

"Screw Angel. I tried his way and it ended up with a girl getting her hands used as woodburner. In Sunnydale nowhere seems to be safe, and if I'm going to get into trouble I'd much rather I was with you guys than anywhere else."

"Well said," said Giles quietly.

"It's okay," said Xander. "I'll protect you. I laugh in the face of danger…then I uh, hide until it goes away."

Buffy smiled at the sentiment. "Okay, well just be careful, at least until we know a little more. I mean, what if Amber isn't causing these problems herself?"

"Well, then we have to determine who or what did, and, uh, deal with it accordingly," said Giles.

"Right," said Buffy. "I don't suppose I have to say don't mention this to Angel?"

"Duh," said Xander. "How stupid do you think we are?"

…

"Wait, don't answer that."

-#-#-

"I told Buffy about Amber," said Willow as they walked along the colonnade.

"Cool! Was she wearin' it? The bracelet, she was wearin' it, right?" Xander smiled to himself. "Pretty much like we're goin' out."

Willow frowned. "Except without the hugging or kissing or her knowing about it."

"So I'm just a figure of fun." He sighed. "I should ask her out, right?"

"You won't know till you ask." Xander grinned and punched her playfully.

"That's why you're so cool! You're like a guy! You're my guy friend that knows about girl stuff."

"Oh, great. I'm a guy." Willow's sarcasm was lost as Xander ran off to check the list of names for the cheerleading squad, leaving a fuming Willow behind him. She watched as Cordelia came out of the crowd of pushing girls and smiled nastily at Amy.

"You're lucky!"

"I made it?" Asked Amy hopefully.

Cordelia gave her a withering look. "No stupid, _I_ made it!" At that moment Xander came back grinning from ear to ear.

"Okay, not only did you make the team, but you, Miss Summers, are the first alternate and Amy's number three." Holding back tears, Amy took off unnoticed by Xander, but Buffy's eyes tracked her as the girl blindly pushed her way through the mingling students, intent on finding the girl's bathrooms, locking herself in a cubicle and sobbing.

"And what a better way to celebrate than with a romantic drive through..."

"Xander," interrupted Willow, "Alternates are the ones who didn't make the team, they only fill in if something happens to the ones who did."

"Excuse me," said Buffy, rushing off to try and console Amy.

A downtrodden Xander sat down heavily on a nearby wall. "For I am Xander, King of Cretins. May all lesser cretins bow before me."

-#-#-

Xander's luck continued to be the same.

"This is the invisible man syndrome. A blessing in Cordelia's case. A curse in Buffy's."

Willow closed her locker and repeated the same argument she'd had with him 20 minutes earlier. Clearly the message wasn't sinking in. "You're not invisible to Buffy." She chewed on her pen as she fiddled with the lock.

"It's worse! I'm just like a part of the scenery, like an old shoe. Or a rug that you walk on every day but don't really see."

"Like a pen that's all chewed up, and you know you should throw it away, but you don't, not 'cause you like it so much, more 'cause you're just used to it..."

"Will, yeah, that is the point, you don't have to drive it through my head like a railroad spike." He ran a hand through his hair as if trying to calm himself down. "I'm gonna take your advice and not beat around the bush."

Willow winced and realised that her casual words of encouragement to Xander had now been taken to heart, especially since he thought that Buffy would just get over Angel after their argument. Seeing the inevitable car crash that would happen when Xander had his hopes crushed she hurriedly tried to backtrack.

"Or I could be wrong! Maybe you should beat around the bush more."

But Xander wasn't taking the hint. "Nah, I gotta be a man and ask her out. Y'know, I gotta stop giving her ID bracelets, uh, subtle innuendoes, taking Polaroids outside of her bedroom window late at night, that last part is a joke to relieve the tension because here she comes."

The girl in question came out of her classroom and began to walk over to them.

Xander took a deep breath. "Okay, into battle I go." He turned desperately to Willow. "Would you ask her out for me?" At her disapproving look he visibly pulled himself together. "No. Man. Me battle."

He called out to Buffy as she came closer to them. "Buffy! Would you like to, uh..."

"Is that even Cordelia's locker?" Said Buffy, puzzled, as she watched the cheerleader struggle to open the combination on the lock, before giving up and continuing down the hall.

"Huh?" Said Xander, momentarily put off. "Oh, I don't know. What I'm saying is accompany me Friday night..."

But Buffy wasn't paying any attention at all, instead being preoccupied watching Cordelia weave her way down the corridor.

"Xander, I have to, um...We can make this up later. You don't mind, do you?" She gave him her books without another word and raced after Cordelia.

Willow glanced over at Xander who was still silently mouthing words to the air where Buffy had been. "Come on," she said consolingly, as though she was talking to a small child. "Let's go have ice-cream."

-#-#-

"So Cordelia nearly crashes the car because somehow she's now unable to see. She had like this yucky white film across her eyes."

"Witchcraft. Blinding your enemy to disorient and disable them- it's a classic!" Said Giles, as they assembled round the library table. Fortunately for Buffy, Angel was once again nowhere to be seen. No pun intended.

"First vampires, now witches. No wonder you can still afford a house in Sunnydale," said Xander, somewhat recovered after shoving the contents of two tubs of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia down his throat.

"But why should someone want to harm Cordelia?" Asked Giles curiously

"Maybe because they met her? Did I say that?" Willow looked shocked at herself, then grinned at Buffy.

"And setting Amber ablaze?"

"Yeah, those guys don't hang..."

"They're both cheerleaders."

"Someone doesn't like cheerleading," said Giles almost sympathising with the witch.

Buffy glared at him, "Or likes it too much."

It hit Willow. "Amy!"

"Amy," agreed Buffy.

"So, you guys are leaning towards Amy?"

Buffy ignored Xander. "She's desperate to get on that team, and I've got this feeling she'd do just about anything to make her Mom's dream come true."

"Uh, let me make sure I have this right," said Giles in disbelief. "This witch is casting horrible and disfiguring spells so that she can become a _cheerleader_?"

"I think you're underestimating the amount of pressure a parent can lay on you. If you're not a picture perfect carbon copy they tend to wig, and cheerleading was kind of her Mom's last hurrah."

Giles wiped his glasses. "Well, I still think we should be sure she's the witch before we arouse her suspicions. She's capable of some fairly unpleasant things."

At that moment Faith waltzed into the library and dropped into an empty chair.

"So…Lishanne's got no mouth."

"Well, that'll disappoint the rest of the guys in the locker room." There was a deadly silence and Xander hurriedly changed tack.

"Look's like Amy's struck again. That means you're next on the list then Buffy, right? I mean, you're the only thing standing between Amy and her place on the team."

"Super."

-#-#-

Buffy jumped gleefully as Willow and Xander walked in to watch the cheerleading practice the following day.

"Willow! Xander! My buds are here! I love my buds! Hi! Hi... Oh..." She hurriedly got back into line as she noticed everyone staring, and the routine continued.

"Is it me, or is Buffy a bit looped?" Willow cast a worried gaze over her friend as the cheerleaders followed with a series of assisted cartwheels.

"We better get her outta there."

"Yeah, before she hurts someone."

And then Buffy overthrew Joy who was sent crashing to the floor. Willow was glad at that moment that Buffy didn't have super strength or Joy would have gone sailing straight into the wall.

"Did I do that?" Said Buffy innocently as Joy pushed her angrily.

"You are _so _out of here!" Willow and Xander each grabbed one of Buffy's arms.

"It's not her fault!"

"She's on medication."

"What?!" Said Buffy glaring at Xander.

"Well, obviously not enough," said Joy. "Who's our next alternate? Oh. Amy, you just made cheerleader."

"No, no, no. You don't want her, she's a wi..."

Xander clamped his hand over Buffy's mouth. "A wise choice indeed!"

He and Willow pulled Buffy away, nodding and casting nervous smiles at Amy and Joy, pretending to support her between them till they got her out of the gym. Once out of the watching eyes of the cheerleaders, Xander effortlessly picked Buffy up in his arms in order to carry her down the hall, with Willow tagging along beside.

"I just got kicked off the team, didn't I?" Moped Buffy, sinking further into Xander's arms, curling her head under his chin.

"I don't think it was your fault," said Xander, enjoying the position he was currently in.

"Hmm, I know you don't, that's 'cause you're my friend. You're my Xander-shaped friend!" Buffy leaned further in and started to play idly with the top buttons of Xander's shirt. "Do you have any idea why I love you so, Xander?"

Xander and Willow exchanged glances as he grinned triumphantly.

"I'll tell you! You're not like other boys at all."

"Well..."

"You are totally, and completely, one of the girls!" She titled her head over to speak to Willow. "I'm that comfy with him."

Willow smiled widely.

"That's great," said Xander, desperately trying not to look too crushed.

"Any other guy who'd give me a bracelet, they'd... wanna date me, and be like a..." She stopped suddenly, beginning to feel woozy. "Oh. I, I don't feel so good."

"Buffy?"

She made no sound as she slipped into unconsciousness.

-#-#-

Xander barged through the library doors with Buffy in his arms, skidding to a halt when he noticed that the rest of the pack were there, including Angel, casually playing cards on the table. Their heads snapped up as one, taking in the scene, while Angel's eyes immediately focussed on Buffy.

"What happened?" He growled as he helped Xander lay her back on a chair.

"What do you care?" Snapped Xander as he smoothed back her hair from her face. "She isn't your responsibility, or don't you remember?" The accusations he'd flung at her in their argument suddenly came back to haunt Angel. Ashamed, he found he had no reply and instead went to find a wet cloth to put on Buffy's forehead.

"We've gotta get her to a hospital!" Said Willow urgently, feeling Buffy's temperature spike under the back of her hand.

"They can't help her," said Giles, urgently flipping through a thick text on Black Magik. Finding the page he was looking for he scanned down the elegant script, reading out loud. "This is a bloodstone vengeance spell. Hits the body hard like a, a quart of alcohol, and then it e-eradicates the, uh, immune system."

Willow took the wet cloth gratefully from Angel and put it gently on Buffy's hot forehead. There was no need to take her pulse- the pack could feel the rapid beat pulsing through them, throbbing on the tip of their tongue, tasting it like the frightened beat of a rabbit as it runs from the big bad wolf…

"A vengeance spell, like she's trying to get even with Buffy?" Said Xander, his anger against Amy beginning to build.

"What's going on?!" Said Angel, his helplessness and confusion making him irate. He turned to the pack leader. "Giles, care to explain?"

The librarian gave Angel a quick run down of the facts, not bothering to disguise his irritation with him over how he'd decided to treat Buffy.

"You can't control every variable," the normally mild mannered man hissed. "Just because she's human doesn't mean you can just push her out of your life like everything else!"

Buffy stirred under Willow's hands and coughed, Xander helping to pull her up to take small sips of the glass of water that she was handed. "It's 'cause she knows I know she's a witch," she croaked, licking her lips as a bead of water escaped.

"The others she just wanted out of the running. You she intends to, um..."

"Kill?" The truth hung in the air uncomfortably.

"How much time do we have?"

Giles looked flustered. "Oh, uh, I'm sure, uh..."

"Truth. Please," said Buffy, trying to keep the exhaustion out of her voice but failing.

"A, a couple of hours... Three at most."

"Well, how do we reverse the spell?"

"I, I've been researching that, and, uh, we can reverse all the spells if, um...we can just lay our hands on, on Amy's spell book."

"And if we can't get a hold of it?" Ground out Angel.

"Well, the other way is to cut the witch's head off."

"Show of hands!" Said Xander, raising his own in the air.

"It's not Amy's fault. She only became a witch to survive her mother," said Buffy disapprovingly.

"Look, I don't care why, I just care that you go on breathing," said Xander angrily, running his fingers through his hair.

"Where would she be casting these spells mate?" Said Spike, his gaze shifting from the weakening human girl to his pacing pack leader.

"She needs a sacred space. A-a-a pentagram, um, or large pot."

"Her home. Okay. Help me up. We'll just go and get her spell book," said Buffy, attempting to shift herself off the chair and onto her feet.

"There is no _we_," said Giles, easily pressing her back down into the chair with his hand. "You're in no condition to go anywhere, you can barely stand and it'll be far easier if I take Spike and Faith with me as back up, if Amy decides to appear."

Buffy opened her mouth to argue but one swift look made her shut it again. "Fine," she grudgingly agreed, "but I do feel a lot better now."

"Hmm, well I'll feel a lot better knowing that you're here with," he looked over Xander, Willow and Angel, "at least one responsible person to keep watch over you."

He gave Buffy a reassuring smile. "We'll be back as quickly as possible." He looked up at the trio he was leaving behind, his eyes gleaming gold as he growled something dark and guttural at them, then grabbed his coat and left, Spike and Faith following out after him.

"What was that Giles said?" Asked Buffy curiously.

Willow blushed. "Er, the PG version is something along the lines of 'play nice.'

-#-#-

"Well, I've always loved awkward silences."

Buffy grimaced and made eye contact with Angel who was pacing near the front door. "We need to talk." She looked at Xander who had taken up a slouched position on the chair and Willow who was nervously fiddling with a pile of cataloguing cards. "Guys?"

Xander frowned and folded his arms grumpily. "There's no point us leaving 'cos we're still gonna be able to hear you. Superior hearing remember?"

"I'd like to pretend," she said flatly. "Go away."

When it was obvious that Xander wasn't going to budge Willow grabbed his arm and forcibly pushed him into Giles' office, shutting the door behind her. Xander's face immediately pressed up against the window, his nose flat against the pane, like a little boy watching his favourite sweets being eaten by another person.

"Xander!" Willow's angry voice managed to get through the door and Buffy watched as Xander was yanked back and the blind let down. There was some rustling of the blind and then the sound of a sharp crack as Willow smacking the teenager's fingers away.

"Ouch! Wills!"

"It was your own fault."

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not."

Buffy glanced over at Angel and then motioned to Xander's now empty seat. "So."

"So." The alpha werewolf drew a circle on the table and sighed. "I take it an 'I'm sorry' won't cover it."

"Not even close."

"Right. I'm really, really sorry?"

"Still cold."

"I'm a complete jackass."

"Getting warmer."

"I shouldn't have called you a lovesick child."

"Yep."

"And I'm sorry I called you a tag along human."

"Even hotter."

"But I'm not sorry I called you a liability."

"Corre…what!"

"Come on Buffy, you seem to have gotton yourself into trouble even without being around us. You've gotton yourself hurt by being attacked by a possessed _cheerleader_. And you still expect me to think you wouldn't be a responsibility in a fight?"

"The cheerleader crack was totally uncalled for. Amy's a highly dangerous witch."

"Exactly! She's 'Highly dangerous'." Buffy winced at her choice of words. "I don't know why you want to put yourself in harm's way when being with werewolves is exactly that!"

"Angel you may have noticed Sunnydale isn't exactly Pleasantville. Trouble is always gonna be around, and normally it's stalking and eating the residents. I feel a lot safer being round you guys then not being round you. And," she added seeing Angel's uncertain face, "it's not like I'm completely helpless or anything. I lived in L.A. It wasn't exactly the city of angels."

"Buffy…" but whatever he was going to say was lost as Giles burst into the room excitedly, followed by Faith, Spike and Amy's mother.

"What Amy's mom doing here?" Asked Buffy confusedly.

"That's not Catharine that's Amy," said Giles. "I'll explain on the way." He motioned for Angel to pick her up.

"Are you sure you can cope?" Mumbled Buffy to Angel. "Not too much of a responsibility for you?"

Angel frowned at her. "We'll continue this conversation later."

"I thought we were having an argument?"

"An argument is between two healthy, able-bodied people. Not one healthy person and the invalid."

"Hey!" Said Buffy smacking his chest with her hand. It was like throwing a particularly small and limp sponge against a solid steel wall.

"Where are Willow and Xander?" Asked Giles impatiently. Buffy waved her hand vaguely over to the office. "In there."

Giles stalked over and opened the door.

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not!"

-#-#-

With Buffy gently laid onto one of the lab tables Giles finally began the restoration spell.

"The centre is dark. _Centrum est obscurus_. The darkness breathes. _Tenebrae respiratis_. The listener hears. Hear me!"

"It's..it's working," said Amy/Catherine's body. Angel gently stroked Buffy's damp hair away from her face and tried to sooth her as she moaned and rolled her head as the spell continued to course through her.

"Unlock the gate! Let the darkness shine and cover us with holy fear. Show me!"

The lights went out in the classroom and Amy in her mother's body clutched at her face, her terror shining through. "She's coming!"

"Corsheth and Gilail! The gate is closed! Receive the dark! Release the unworthy! Take of mine energy and be sated!" He plunged his hands into the frothing mixture just as the irate witch began to pull on the door.

"Be sated! Release the unworthy!" And that was when the axe started to chop down the door.

"Release!"

The hole became bigger.

"Release!"

Too late, the hole was made in the door and the witch stormed through, throwing the axe at a snarling Angel before he even had time to dodge it. The axe sank deeply into his chest, cutting through his lungs and straight through to the back, stopping before it reached the spine, the blood arching high into the air and splattering onto the walls and Buffy's still form. The werewolf managed to gurgle her name, the bubbles of air rising through the blood before he sank down to the floor and was still.

The witch sneered and grabbed Buffy's head, preparing to snap her neck…

"RELEASE!"

There was a blinding flash of light as the spells broke. Amy staggered as her soul flew back into her body once more, steadying herself on the table that Buffy was now sitting up on, completely restored to normal health.

"Buffy?"

"Amy?"

Catherine lunged at Buffy, tackling her to the floor and down next to Angel. Buffy lashed out at Catherine, viciously raking her nails across the witch's face, gouging streaks into her flesh, causing the older woman to rear backwards in pain. It was enough room for Buffy to manoeuvre herself to punch her in the face and wriggle out from underneath, watching as Giles came towards Catherine, his claws out and his eyes shot through with amber.

Buffy backed herself up until she bumped into something soft and cool. She turned around and came face to face with Angel, his face slack and blood coating his body from his chest and broken lungs. It covered him like a slick bird covered in oil and Buffy let out a quiet gasp of horror.

"Angel."

His name came out as a quiet whimper of pain. She touched his face which only moments before had been animated with his own burning light as he'd argued over her safety. And now there was nothing. With trembling fingers she reached up to his face and stroked his cheek, only to leave a dark smear of blood behind. She hadn't even realised her hands were covered in it from where she'd gently pressed them onto his T-shirt. She felt for his pulse…but there was only the adrenaline fuelled beat of her own heart thumping through the tips.

Guilt and regret filled her. He was gone. It was all her fault. The urge to cry came strongly now and she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. No, she wouldn't do it now. The sick feeling in her stomach changed. Became darker and heavier. Angrier. No, it wasn't her fault. She knew exactly who's fault this was. And they would pay.

"Catherine."

The word that came out of her mouth was barely human and filled with such rage. Dragging herself away from Angel she turned to face the witch who had just thrown a table at Giles with her power and pinned him underneath the shattered pieces, unconscious. Amy was a trembling wreck in the corner as her mother turned towards her.

"Mom! Please!" But Catherine showed no mercy and hurled her abuse towards her own flesh and blood.

"You! You little brat! I gave you birth. I gave up my life so you could drag that worthless carcass around and call it living? You've never been anything but trouble." She laughed and Amy flinched. "I'm going to put you where you can't make trouble again!"

"Guess what?" Said Buffy. Catherine turned to face her, her expression one of utter annoyance.

"I feel better!" She punched her and the witch's head snapped back. "But you, you're going to feel a whole lot worse". She threw another punch, enjoying the savage satisfaction as she heard the older woman's nose break. Catherine fell to the floor, blood streaming from her nose, but she got up quickly and glared at Buffy.

"That body was supposed to be mine!"

"Grow up," bit out Buffy, edging closer again to throw another blow to the witch's face.

But Catherine wasn't letting her anywhere near her again and throwing out an arm she used her power to cause Buffy to go flying back into the wall. Winded, the human girl sat crumpled on the floor trying to get her lungs to push and pull oxygen back into her. She glanced over at Angel again as Catherine began to chant a spell, her eyes turning pitch black.

"I shall look upon my enemy!"

Buffy breathed deeply and pushed herself up from the floor. She couldn't lose now. Not now. Not with the sight of a broken Angel lying on the floor ingrained in her mind. She knew the image was going to haunt her sleep.

"I shall look upon her and the dark place will have her soul!"

Catherine's piercing voice cut through her and the anger grew again. She cast about for anything she could use to stop the spell, to defend herself. 'Please,' she silently begged anyone who was listening. 'If there's anyone out there, right now would be a great time to prove yourself.'

She spotted the thick pole holding the mirror up above her. 'Nice work.'

"Corsheth, take her!"

Not hesitating for a moment Buffy kicked out and knocked the pole out from under the mirror, causing it to flop down, just as the spell left Catherine's hands and hit the reflective surface. There was only time for the witch to let out a small scream as the spell bounced back and enveloped her, before the energy twisted round her and with a loud roar disappeared, taking the screaming woman with it.

Silence filled the lab, as a badly shaken Amy stood up from where she'd crawled over to Giles, helping the stirring man to sit up and brush off the pieces of table that littered him.

"Well, that was um…interesting." His eyes strayed over Amy to where Buffy stood staring at something on the floor.

"Buffy?"

And then the coppery smell of blood overwhelmed him and he rolled onto all fours to try and stop himself from being sick. The sweet smell was heavy in the air and almost overpowering to the sensitive smell receptors in the older werewolf.

"Oh no." Buffy moved to the side and he looked up, taking in the sight of Angel slumped against the wall, the axe still embedded in his chest, the darkening blood covering his pale form.

Xander rushed in suddenly and grabbed Amy tightly. "I got her! I got her! I…"

He started to choke on the smell and pushed Amy away from him as he dry heaved, his eyes bleeding to gold as the blood stench overwhelmed him.

"Where's that coming from?"

"Angel," replied Buffy quietly as Giles came and crouched next to the still werewolf, hooking his arms underneath Angel's body.

"Xander, help me." The teenager hurried over and gently took Angel's legs as the two men manoeuvred him out of the science lab and down the corridor.

Buffy followed along in a kind of daze with Amy gently steering her and they bumped into Willow on the way down. She gasped.

"Angel!"

"Willow, get the First Aid Box ready."

"The First Aid Box?" Said Amy. "Don't you think he's a little beyond that?"

Giles frowned at her. "The _other_ First Aid Box," he instructed Willow, who nodded and pounded up the corridor and through the library doors.

"All we need to do is get the axe out of him without rupturing anything else and he should be as good as new in a few days."

"What?" Said Buffy coming out of her stupor. "Angel's alive?"

-#-#-

"So you're pretty much invulnerable," said Buffy a week later, as she gently wrapped the bandages around Angel's torso as he sat on his bed.

"Well, almost. We still age and we can still die, but we can only be killed by silver or severing the spinal cord. Or crushing the skull. Chopping off my head. Blowing me up. Bullet to the…"

"All right, all right I get it," said Buffy, finishing her handiwork. She sat back to admire it and then smacked him hard in the chest.

"Ow!" Yelped Angel. "What was that for?"

"For scaring me to death Mr Invulnerable." She frowned miserably. "I thought you were dead."

"Hey, hey," he said soothingly pulling her to him. "It's alright now.I'm sorry I scared you." He grinned. "But on the upside you got to play nurse."

Buffy pulled away, glaring at him, but her mouth was twisted into a smirk. "Do you want another smack?"

"You love it."

"Hmm," said Buffy ignoring the truth of the point. "Well don't get used to it. You're pretty much all healed up and Nurse Buffy has other patients to see."

"Like who?"

"Well, Xander hurt his hand…" Angel growled and grabbed for her but Buffy merely laughed and danced out of his way, picking up her bandages and the scissors and putting them into the Alternative First Aid Kit (warning: only suitable for supernatural creatures).

Angel settled back onto the bed and folded his hands under his head. "Does Xander know he doesn't stand a chance?"

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "We're going out for coffee on Friday."

"What?"

Buffy smothered a grin at Angel's decidedly frosty tone. "Will's coming with us and Faith and Spike said they might drop by too." She saw him relax out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh and by the way," she said. "As the one who didn't get an axe embedded in their chest I think I win the conversation."

"I thought it was an argument?"

"An argument is between two healthy, able-bodied people. Not one healthy person and the invalid," recited Buffy and then glanced pointedly at his bandages.

"I am now an official member of the Scooby gang and there's nothing you can do about it."

Angel snorted but after a glare he subsided.

Buffy put her hands on her hips. "Out of the two of us who saved the day and who almost died?"

There was a stony silence.

"Exactly." She put her hand on the doorknob. "Get some rest," she said kindly and opened the door.

It was almost closed before she popped her head back in again. "Oh and don't worry, Xander gave me the full induction rites into the gang." She paused thoughtfully. "I didn't realise we would have to be naked so much…"

"What!"

Angel leapt from the bed but the door was already closed when he slammed into it. He yanked it open, but all he caught was a glimpse of blonde hair going down the stairs, the scent of vanilla perfume in the air and her laughter. Angel slammed his fist into the wall of his bedroom and groaned.

Time for a cold shower.

-#-#-

**Please read and review!**

Just leave a little comment and tell me what you think. They're always welcome and I always respond to comments left!

This particular chapter was inspired by **wolf steel **who wanted to see Buffy fighting. Hope I've fulfilled your request!


	3. Never Kill A Boy On A First Date

**Feedback:** YES! Feedback and criticism (but only constructive) is not only appreciated, it's one of the things that makes writing so much fun!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own BTVS, but I really wish I did. Angel leaving? Never would have happened.

**Pairing:** B/A (eventually), W/O, S/F

**Summary:** AU. **The prequel to Werewolves of L.A. **Buffy Summers is an ordinary girl, living a normal life, until her Mom gets a job as an art curator in a little town called Sunnydale. She thinks her life has come to an end. In fact, it's only just beginning…

* * *

Giles looked up from cataloguing his books as Xander walked in. "How is Miss French?"

"Sliced and diced," said Xander, eyes flickering brilliant amber, as he slid out his claws briefly and then re-sheathed them.

Giles smiled approvingly. "Well done."

Xander grinned and flung his arms out wide. "I say this calls for quality party time at the Bronze. It's not every day you get to kill your biology teacher."

"Definitely," said Buffy, grateful for the distraction from 18th century French cultural history that Willow had been trying and failing to teach her for the past two hours. She was sooo flunking the test tomorrow. She shoved her textbook in her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Come on Mr Purity- lets go shake your thing."

"What?"

Willow threaded her arm through Xander's. "I mean, here you are, doing the right thing, the smart thing, when a lot of other boys your age..."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you see," said Giles, taking pity on Xander, who was rapidly turning the shade of fresh road-kill, "the She-Mantis uh...only preys on virgins."

Xander waited for the ground to swallow him up. "Well, isn't this a perfect ending to a wonderful day!"

"I don't think it's bad, I think it's really sweet!" Said Willow. Xander's fist punched a hole through the library wall. "It's certainly nothing I'll ever bring up again," she added.

"Angel never finds out under pain of dismemberment," ground out Xander as he stalked out of the doors, Willow and Buffy hurrying to catch up behind him. Giles sighed, finally left to mourn another hole in his poor library, and to wonder how to explain away another damage report to the Principle. Perhaps if he moved a bookshelf no-one would notice...

* * *

It wasn't until they were halfway down the street that Buffy realised what had been bugging her all evening. That tiny little itch at the back of her mind that told her she'd forgotten something...

"Owen!" She smacked her forehead with her hand.

"He doesn't need to know either Buff," said Xander frowning.

"No," said the distraught girl, "I completely forgot about him with the whole 'temp-biology-teacher-being-a-big-maneating-bug-and-you-having-to go-and-carve-her-up-into-tiny-pieces'." She threw a despairing glance at her watch. "And now I'm totally late for our date."

"Hey," said Willow consolingly, "I'm sure Owen won't mind that you're only... two hours late."

Buffy shot her a look. Xander on the other hand had brightened up considerably. "Well, look at it this way. If he didn't wait for you then he's not worth going out with."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Xand, _nobody _waits that long. He probably thinks I stood him up."

"Or...you could've forgotten."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "That sounds so much better."

"You could've been ill."

"I saw him this afternoon. I was positively _glowing _with health."

"Blown tyre."

"I don't drive. Plus I could walk there."

"Temporary amnesia."

"Like that's gonna work."

"Personal emergency."

"My non-appearance _is _a personal emergency." Buffy sighed. "Owen..."

"Is a perfectly nice guy who will probably ask you again if you tell him that Xander was..."

"Killing Miss French?"

"Well, I was going to say in trouble, but okay," said Willow, shrugging.

Buffy's eyes lit up. "Hey, that's not bad. If I just blame you, say you were having an emergency and I needed to go over and Wills was there as well then it doesn't sound like I was standing him up."

Xander grimaced. "Gee, thanks Buffy. It's nice to know I'm here as an excuse so you can get another date with some other guy."

"Well it was_ your_ fault."

"You didn't have to stay and wait for me."

"I was concerned!" She smirked. "I didn't know if you'd come back with your chastity intact or not." The girls glanced at each other then burst into giggles.

Xander sighed. "And the day just keeps getting better."

* * *

The Bronze was packed that evening. Buffy and Willow made their way through the crowds and over to an abandoned table in a darkened corner of the room, whilst Xander went to fetch the girl's drinks. Slinging her bag onto the table, Buffy tapped her fingernails against the table and glanced around distractedly. Willow frowned.

"Buffy." There was no response from her friend who was scanning the crowds anxiously.

"_Buffy_." Still nada. Willow rolled her eyes and resorted to desperate measures.

"Owen! Hi!"

"Hmm? What? Where?" Buffy turned round startled, only to realise there was no Owen and Willow was now giving her 'the look'. She blushed.

"Sorry Wills."

The redhead shrugged. "He's not here. If he was, me and Xander would have been able to smell him." Buffy looked vaguely grossed out at this and Willow hurried to clarify.

"Everybody has an individually unique scent- just like snowflakes or fingerprints. Even if somebody wears perfume or takes a bath, their own scent will still be there, just hidden more."

At that moment Xander came back and placed the drinks on the table, along with three large chocolate chip cookies.

"Here we go ladies. Drinks on the house."

"On the house?" Said Buffy suspiciously.

"Well I kinda forgot to pay so technically..."

"You stole them."

"Is it_ really_ 'stealing' if no-one asks you for money?"

Willow smacked him. "Yes!"

"Oh." Xander took a slurp of his drink. "Guess you learn something new every day."

The girls exchanged amused glances as Buffy took a sip of her frappuccino. "Mmh... it is good."

"For a stolen beverage," said Willow, swirling her straw around the glass.

"Welcome to your new life of crime," said Xander, practically inhaling his cookie.

"Did you even pause to chew?"

Xander shook his head and patted his stomach. "Why chew when you can just swallow?"

"That's what she said."

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

Buffy laughed and threw a chocolate chip at him. He moved like poured water, his animal reflexes liquid and smooth as he bent unnaturally to catch the chip in his mouth as it fell. He swallowed then licked his lips.

"You know that stuff's too good to be thrown on the floor."

Buffy just stared at him. "That was incredible."

Xander smirked. "Finally! Someone recognises my true self."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "No, I mean the way you just suddenly moved. I'd forgotten you were so..."

"Powerful? Handsome? Fantastic with women?"

"Graceful."

Xander pulled a face. "Graceful? Why don't you just come out and say 'gay'."

"Hmm, why _don't_ you 'come out' Xander?"

Xander's face shuttered as he fought the urge to sink in his chair and crawl under the table.

"Angel. I'd say it's nice to see you, but then we both know that's a big fib."

Angel smirked. "Don't worry Xander, the displeasure is all mine." He smiled gently at Willow who was frowning in disapproval at both of them, and then turned to Buffy.

"Hi."

"Hey." She glanced up at him and then back down, toying with her half eaten cookie.

Ever since the whole 'Amy being her Mom' thing, the tension between the two of them had been worse than ever, but Buffy had dealt with it in her own way- namely she had avoided Angel at all times. The trouble was that was getting harder and harder to do as Buffy realised she actually liked him...too much. But though Angel had apologised for what he had said, well sort of, Buffy knew a relationship between the two of them would never work. They were too different and yet too alike in so many respects. She knew he would never be able to see her as anything more than human, more than someone who had to be protected, looked after. She needed someone who she could trust would let her be her own person, who wasn't constantly worrying about her, wrapping her up in cotton wool.

Besides, Xander had been right when he'd said Angel was dangerous, and she only seemed to be putting him in more danger. When he'd been lying on the floor after Amy's mom had attacked him, and she thought he'd died, a small part of herself had gone with him. It had been her fault. So he could flirt with her all he liked, she could even reciprocate, but there could never be anything real between them.

Trouble was, she'd been avoiding that particular conversation and Angel for the past few weeks. And Angel blew hot and cold anyway, as though even he didn't know what he was feeling. Sometimes he showed up when she least expected, waiting for her after class and they could talk and flirt like any normal couple. But sometimes, when they were in the library with the whole gang, researching for Kendra and Merrick, it was like she didn't exist. And Buffy wasn't going to be jerked around by anyone.

So when she'd found out through the school gossip line that Owen, the Owen, every girl's dream Owen liked her, she'd jumped at the chance to go out with him. It wasn't like she was using him. _Really_. Besides she genuinely liked him. And he was cute. Very cute. And human, safe. And now Angel was here. Buffy suddenly found herself praying nobody brought up the subject of Owen and why she was here.

"Well, don't all of you look cosy. Keeping Xander company again? Stood up were you? Not that I blame the poor thing. I mean who would go out with you?"

Xander glared at him. "Hey! I put the date in predator."

"Xander, predator is spelled 'd.a.t._o_.r' not 'd.a.t._e_.r'," said Willow kindly.

Xander shrugged. "Whatever, besides it's not me here for the date, it's Buffy." Buffy shot him a glare across the table as Angel's easy smirk began to fade.

"Yeah, she forgot about the time and missed her date with..." Buffy kicked him under the table.

"Ow!" Xander winced and rubbed his shin. Angel raised an eyebrow at him.

"What was that Xander?"

Buffy rolled her eyes inwardly. This was stupid. Why should she be ashamed at telling Angel she was dating someone else?

"Owen." Angel turned to her. "I'm seeing Owen."

"Owen?" He ground out.

"Yeah, Owen."

"Xander."

They glared at him.

"Buffy, can I have a word, outside?"

She frowned at him but followed shooting the others looks. Outside, she shivered in the cold and watched as Angel leaned, catlike, against the wall.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you've been avoiding me." Buffy stared defiantly at the ground.

"Avoiding you? What do you mean avo..."

"What game are you playing?"

"Game? I'm not playing anything." She caught his eyes. "It's all in your head. But then most things are."

"I thought..."

"What? That you and me were together?"

He frowned. "Guess I was wrong."

Buffy crossed her arms defensively. Why did he always make her feel like it was her fault?

"What was I supposed to do Angel? You've been sending me mixed messages for weeks now. You blow hot and cold all the time and after the whole 'your human thing' I thought you wanted space. Besides I'm doing what you wanted. Owen is nice and safe and..."

"Human."

"This isn't about that."

"Yes it is. You can't bear the thought of touching me." He stalked over to her, muscles rippling under his shirt as he planted his arms either side of her head. The coiled power under his skin was almost tangible, and Buffy knew he was just itching for her to give him an excuse to use it. "I could tear him apart in seconds."

"You don't scare me Angel."

"No?"

She shivered as he leaned in closer, until their lips were almost touching. "No." Hot breath steamed in the air and she knew by the glint in his eye that he could smell her arousal.

She couldn't say which of them moved first, all she knew was suddenly her mouth was slanting over his in a desperate kiss. He pulled her close, pressing her against the wall and him as she threaded her legs in between his. She could feel the hard smooth planes of his chest through his shirt and she moved her hands from his hair to clutch desperately at his shirt, pulling him even closer against her. He growled in satisfaction and moved his mouth from hers, plump and wet from his kisses, down over her jaw, down her neck, til he found her pulse, beating like a bird under her skin. He kissed her skin then lightly nipped her with his teeth. She gasped and was pulled back to reality.

It wasn't quite how she'd envisioned her first kiss with Angel.

She adjusted her clothes and pushed him away.

Angel smirked. "Still seeing Owen?"

She glared. "Was this was some kind of macho testosterone test? Very pissing on a tree of you. And yes, I am still seeing him." Angel growled, his eyes flashing amber. "And don't pull the werewolf crap on me."

She turned and walked back to the door.

"Buffy!"

She didn't look back.

* * *

Buffy's mood over the weekend was black, and it was with some relief that Joyce said goodbye to her daughter on the Monday, hoping that she wasn't like a storm cloud when she came back home.

Sitting in the library Giles wondered what he'd done to deserve the sullen teenager who was kicking his table legs and chewing gum. Kendra and Merrick were also suffering her contrary mood as they researched the latest horror that was being unleashed on Sunnydale.

Buffy sat on the table swinging her legs whilst she studied the ring.

"Well, that's great," said Buffy. "So Kendra kills them and you fence their stuff." Merrick shot her a glare and then opened the thick tome that Giles had brought down from the upper stacks.

"That symbol on the ring... I believe it's the rune for fidelity, but, uh, it doesn't connect with any of the sects that I've studied."

"What about this on the inside?" She showed them the ring. "It's a sun and three stars. Haven't we seen that somewhere?"

"Let me see." He took the ring and looked closely. "No, I-I don't think this, um, represents any..."

Buffy flipped through the book and then pointed. "It's right here. Sun and three stars. Yuck, check these guys out." She handed Merrick the open book. "Told you it looked familiar."

"The Order of Aurelius. Yes, you're right."

"Oooh, two points for the human girl, whilst the combined powers of the werewolf and the watcher have yet to score."

The two men exchanged glances. Just then the library doors swung open and Owen walked in.

"Oh! Owen. Hi." Buffy slid off the table, looking down at her feet and then up at him. "About Friday..."

"What do you want?'' Giles interrupted.

"A book? I lost my Emily Dickinson. It's dumb, but I like her around. Kind of a security blanket."

Giles pointed at the stacks. "Poetry."

"I didn't think I'd find you here," said Owen to Buffy as she followed him up the stairs.

"Why not?"

"I, I didn't mean... I mean... I think you can read."

Buffy smirked. "Thanks."

"Listen, about Friday..."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I've never been stood up before but..."

"Oh, no you see Xander had this huge massive problem and he called me and Will over and..."

"Buffy. It's alright. You don't have to explain."

She paused, confused. "I don't?"

"No, it's okay." He scratched his head. "Listen, we could...maybe, I don't know...try again? Sometime. Obviously if you didn't want to..."

"No! No, I'd love to."

He smiled. "Cool, okay. Maybe we could try the Bronze again? If you want that is."

Buffy nodded. "Wicked. 8ish? I'll be there this time, I swear." Owen smiled and walked down the stairs, as Buffy followed him.

Giles met them at the bottom of the stairs and pretended he hadn't been eavesdropping the whole time. Buffy shot him a pointed look and then one at Merrick as well who was pretending to read a book. Giles took Owen's book and headed to the checkout station.

"Emily Dickinson, she's quite a good poet, I mean for a..."

"A girl?" Asked Buffy.

"For an American." He handed the book back.

Owen smiled shyly. "I'll, uh, see you in math... if I keep my eyes open at some point."

"Cool..."

Owen left and Buffy stared after him. She sighed. "That was Owen."

"Yes, I know," said Giles, picking up a handful of returned books. "Does Angel know?"

"Is it a crime now to date anyone else in this school?" She glared at him. "Angel and I aren't even a couple!"

Giles raised an eyebrow. "I was merely saying..."

"Well don't."

* * *

_The next day..._

Buffy slammed her door shut and leaned on it.

"So how did it go?" Asked Xander warily.

"It didn't go. There was no going of any kind."

"Why?"

"Cordelia. Miss 'I-think-I-can-have-everyone-I'm-so-fantastic-fall-down-at-my-feet-and-worship-me'."

Xander shot her a look. "You know I think they just call her Cordy these days."

Buffy ignored him. "She was all over him. Like...like...well something being all over something else."

"And you didn't do anything?"

"What was I supposed to do? Cut in on his quality time with Queen C? No way." She banged her fist angrily against the metal door.

"You're acting a little overly, aren't you? I mean, you could have any guy in school." Xander ran his fingers through his hair. "Like me."

"He's not any guy. He's more...Oweny."

Xander deflated. "Sure, he's got a certain Owenosity, but that's not hard to find." He reached his locker and began to put his books in. He sighed. "To be honest you're just doing it to piss Angel off. And I applaud any efforts you make to do so, but, this is just wrong."

Buffy folded her arms. "Hey, I like Owen."

"Not as much as you like Angel."

"Angel has nothing to do with this." Buffy avoided his eyes, as Xander raised an eyebrow. "Alright, maybe a little."

"Right."

"But I'm not using Owen. Honest." The bell rang for the next period. "Listen, I've gotta book. I'll see you later?"

Xander looked at her. "Just, be careful."

* * *

"So third time lucky huh?"

"Yep, he asked me in class." Buffy grinned. "But it's no big deal."

"It is a big deal! He obviously really likes you if he keeps on asking you." Willow hugged herself in excitement. "Merrick tell her!"

Merrick nodded seriously. "I'm afraid it's very big."

She grinned at Buffy. "Thank you!" She turned back to him confused. "Wait!"

They followed him into the library. "What are you talking about?"

"What are _you_ talking about?" Merrick frowned.

"Boys!"

"Yes, well, I'm talking about trouble. A violent and disturbing prophecy is about to be fulfilled."

Buffy smiled sympathetically at Kendra who was balancing upside down on one hand on the table. "Sounds like a fun night for you huh?"

Kendra rolled her eyes and switched hands. "I can barely contain me joy."

Buffy raised an eyebrow and looked at Giles. "Who taught her sarcasm?"

* * *

Buffy hummed along with the music as she waited for Owen to return with what was going to hopefully be a sinfully gooey, chocolate muffin. She couldn't believe after all the trouble she was finally on a date with...

"Buffy."

"Angel."

"Buffy, I ..."

Owen reappeared with her deliciously fattening muffin. "Here you go."

Angel glowered. "You're here on a date?"

"Um, Owen, this is Angel. Angel, this is Owen." She put her arm around Owen and glared at Angel. "Who is my date."

Angel turned on the human boy and seemed to grow _bigger_ somehow. "Hey."

Owen stepped back unconsciously. "I think I've seen you round school sometime."

Angel remained stoically silent. Buffy frowned- were his eyes ever so slightly yellow?

"Well, as much fun as this has been Angel, Owen and I have to go and be… Owen and I."

She turned to Owen and smiled up at him, deliberately tightening her hold on him as she felt Angel's eyes boring holes into her head. She smiled tightly at Angel.

"Bye."

She'd moved four steps when Xander and Willow bounded up to them.

"Buffy! Owen!"

Buffy sighed. "Gee, everyone's coming here tonight."

Xander grinned manically. "Yep, everyone's come here and the dead could be walking around outside and no-one would know." He looked pointedly at Angel who swore softly under his breath.

Angel turned to her and gripped her arm. "Stay in here alright. Don't leave."

"What? I..." But the trio of werewolves had already left the club.

Owen looked at her musingly. "You have the strangest friends."

"Mmm."

He raised an eyebrow. "Want to follow them?"

Buffy looked at her muffin in one hand and then to the club door. "Maybe we shouldn't..."

"Come on," said Owen. "Whatever they're hiding can't be that bad." He shrugged. "And I was gonna ask you for ice-cream later so we can go and get some...if you want that is."

Buffy's mind had gone blank and suddenly she couldn't think of one excuse to not go outside. "Sure." She smiled tightly.

"Great!" Owen grinned at her. Something wet and gooey was suddenly sliding through her fingers and Buffy looked down at her hand. Her knuckles were white and clenched so tightly over the muffin she'd completely squashed it, chocolate sauce dripping to the floor. In the light of the club it looked like blood.

"Yeah, great."

* * *

Buffy found herself tensing at every noise as she walked with Owen to the ice-cream parlour. It didn't help that Owen had wanted to walk through the cemetery as it was a short-cut. Suddenly a howl split the silence and Buffy jumped skittishly. Owen squeezed her hand comfortingly.

"You're nervous all of sudden. What's wrong?" He smiled warmly. "It's just a dog, nothing to be worried about."

_Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?_

"Sure, I'm just being silly." She laughed nervously. "It's the dark, it creeps me out."

"Really?" Owen raised an eyebrow. "I love the dark. It's full of mystery, romance..."

"Danger," came a voice to Owen's left.

"Angel!" Buffy yelped. "What are you do..."

"I told you to stay in the Bronze, why do you never listen to me?"

Owen frowned. "It's alright, we're only going for ice-cream."

Angel shook his head. "Ice-cream? You disobey me for _ice-cream_?"

Buffy took a step forward fuming. "Who died and made you in charge over me? I can make my own decisions thank you. I don't need a bodyguard!"

"No you're right, you need a babysitter!"

Whatever Buffy may have said in reply was lost as a large group of vampires burst through the foliage and over a group of tombstones, two large werewolves, who Buffy recognised as Spike and Faith, chasing after them. In the distance the sound of fighting could be heard and Kendra, stake in hand, came into view, the air thick with dust as she came closer and closer to where the trio were standing.

Buffy groaned. "This isn't exactly what I had in mind for our first date."

Beside her, Angel had already swiftly and silently changed into his animal form and he snarled.

'Buffy.' She jumped for the nth time that night. Angel's voice was in her head!

'There's nothing you can do Buffy,' said Angel telepathically. 'Get out of here whilst you still can.' Distantly she watched as Xander tore a vampire's throat out, blood and gore coating his dark glossy fur.

"No. I can..."

'Buffy you have other priorities now.' He motioned with his head to Owen who was staring at the werewolves and vampires like his fantasies had suddenly come true.

"He's human and helpless and that makes him easy prey. You need to protect him. So go, now!"

Buffy turned to Owen who grinned at her.

"This is so cool!" He said. "I knew you were hiding stuff but I never realised it'd be something like this."

And Buffy suddenly realised that he was in the most danger because he thought that this was cool. That the supernatural things in Sunnydale were tame and touchable and he didn't realise that the vampires coming towards them were going to drain him of his life's blood and leave his body dumped like an empty sweet wrapper, or worse turn him. And did those vampires now seem closer than they were before?

'Run!' Growled Angel in their heads. Neither teenager moved.

"NOW!"

He snarled and moved towards them, teeth gleaming in the light as the group of vampires closed in closer and closer.

Buffy shook herself out of her stupor. "Come on!"

She grabbed Owen's hand and began tugging him behind her as she ran through the cemetery to her house. Owen gradually started to run with her, adrenaline pumping through his system. A howl echoed into the night's sky and Buffy felt him shiver.

"This is brilliant!"

Buffy looked at him incredulously. "Running for your life? You think this is fun?"

He laughed and sped up so that now he was a little bit ahead of her. "Yeah!" He flung out his arms. "I've never felt so alive!"

Out of the cemetery they stepped onto the pavement but kept running, the lamplight gleaming off Owen's face and making it a glowing, healthy, bronze colour. He grinned wildly at her.

"This has been the best night ever!" He squeezed her hand and then let go, stepping out onto the road to dodge round a couple who were walking towards them.

Nobody noticed the speeding car until it was too late.

* * *

**Please read and review!**

Just leave a little comment and tell me what you think. They're always welcome and I always respond to comments left!

Thanks for waiting so long for this chapter guys- I hope you enjoyed it :)


	4. Owen

**Feedback:** YES! Feedback and criticism (but only constructive) is not only appreciated, it's one of the things that makes writing so much fun!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own BTVS, but I really wish I did. Angel leaving? Never would have happened.

**Pairing:** B/A (eventually), W/O, S/F

**Summary:** AU. **The prequel to Werewolves of L.A. **Buffy Summers is an ordinary girl, living a normal life, until her Mom gets a job as an art curator in a little town called Sunnydale. She thinks her life has come to an end. In fact, it's only just beginning…

* * *

"I thought Xander would be here by now," murmured Willow, anxiously glancing at the door.

"Hmm, that'd make him on time. We couldn't have that," said Buffy, picking at her croissant. "You know, I think this was a bad idea. I'm gonna go back to the hospital..."

"No," said Willow. "Remember, we said this was going to be your break?" She smiled sympathetically. "You're at Owen's side every moment you can spare. We've hardly seen you for weeks and you need some time for yourself."

Buffy nodded and continued to shred her croissant. Willow fidgeted in her seat.

"Did you hear Principal Flutie got eaten today? Sorry, that's probably not helping is it and now I'm babbling so I'm gonna shut up now, sorry."

Buffy laughed softly. "Will, it's okay, I'm not gonna suddenly break down on you." She took a sip of coke. "Giles mentioned something about hyena spirits when he came to see me..."

Willow nodded. "Yeah, he's not happy. He's going with Spike and Angel to see the zookeeper. He doesn't like other packs coming onto his territory, even if they are spirits, and especially when they eat the principal."

"Oh." Buffy nodded. "Right. Well it shouldn't be too hard to find a new principal. Unless they ask what happened to the last one."

There was an awkward pause and Willow glanced at her watch again. Buffy laughed. "He's not going to get here quicker if you look at the time every three seconds."

The redhead blushed. "Sorry. He makes my head go tingly. You know what I mean?"

Buffy's smile faded. "I dimly recall."

"Sorry," said Willow again. "I just seem to keep putting my foot in it."

"No," said Buffy. "You shouldn't have to keep apologising round me. I'll be okay. Just treat me like normal." Buffy flicked a bit of croissant off the table and watched it fall to the ground. "Angel came to visit at the hospital today."

"Is that why you're wearing his leather jacket right now?"

"Goes with the shoes."

Willow prodded her. "Come on, Angel pushes your buttons. You know he does."

"I suppose some girls might find him good looking...if they have eyes, alright, he's a honey, but...there's the whole werewolf thing – no offence Will- but it complicates things...and now with Owen...I...I just can't have a relationship..."

Willow nodded morosely and then perked up suddenly. "There he is!"

"Angel?"

"Xander!"

The boy in question smiled apologetically and sank down gratefully into a chair. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "Giles collared me after class to research animal possession. Do you know how many freaky books the man possesses?" Xander yawned. "Hyena's are definitely the shmoes of the animal kingdom." He glanced around him. "I haven't missed too much of the fumigation party have I?"

"Hmm?" Said Buffy, who'd been stirring the ice round in her coke with her straw.

"The closing of the Bronze for a few days to nuke the cockroaches?" Said Willow.

"Oh."

Willow shared a look with Xander. "It's a lot of fun...what's it like where _you _are?"

Buffy looked up and smiled. "I'm... sorry, I was just thinking about things..."

"Whoa, well, let's stop this crazy whirligig of fun! I'm dizzy!" Xander waved his arms in the air comically.

"Alright, now I'm infecting those nearest and dear to me. I'm gonna call it a night." Buffy got up from the table.

"Don't go," said Xander. "It's early...we could dance."

"Rain check?" Said Buffy, apologetically. "Good night."

* * *

She could only hear the click of her heels as she walked home; the streets were deserted and she wrapped Angel's leather jacket tighter round her. She tried not to focus too much on the lingering scent of him that still permeated the jacket- an intoxicating mix of forests and wolf and something purely masculine, purely Angel.

But the image of Owen, hooked up to so many tubes came into her mind and the guilt once again swallowed her up. If only they hadn't gone out that night, if only Owen hadn't been so excited about the danger, if only that car hadn't come...

There was a slight noise from behind her. She tried to remain calm and remember anything from the self defence lessons she'd had in L.A. She curled her hands tighter round her bag and quickened her step.

The noise became louder. She swallowed, her pace picking up even more. Footsteps now sounded behind her. Should she confront her stalker? She shivered. Owen's accident had made her more twitchy, more cautious. She didn't want to end up in a hospital bed next to him, or worse...She tried to think through her steadily growing panic and remember how far away her house was. Surely she was nearly there? Could she outrun him?

A hand touched her shoulder.

She swung her fist round to connect solidly with a jaw. Her fingers throbbed, her hand felt like it was on fire- was hitting someone meant to hurt this much? And then she realised who she'd hit.

"Oh! Angel, I'm so sorry." She glanced down at her fingers. "No wonder it hurt so much," she muttered to herself. "Stupid, super strong werewolf bones."

Angel, on the other hand, didn't seem that hurt, as he rubbed his jaw and smirked."You hit like a girl."

Buffy pouted. "Thanks for noticing Mr Obvious." She crossed her arms. "And hey! I do not hit like a girl, thank you very much. I broke Amy's Mom's nose, or did you forget?" She snickered. "Oh yeah, that's right I'd forgotten, you were unconscious."

Angel rolled his eyes. "Do you always have to bring that up when we fight?"

She raised an eyebrow. "If you think this is a fight, no wonder you didn't last long. Come on," she said grabbing his hand. "Despite what you say, it's got to hurt. I'll get you some ice for that."

Angel bit his tongue and nodded, content to let her forget that his healing would have it sorted in the next five minutes.

"Why were you following me, anyway?" She asked as they carried on walking. "Did you want your jacket back?"

She'd already taken one arm out when Angel's hand stopped her, his fingers closing over hers, heat flaring where their skin touched.

"Keep it, it looks better on you."

"Oh." She slipped back into it and swallowed.

"So. You didn't answer my question."

Angel smiled. "I was just out walking."

"You weren't following me? And it wouldn't be the first time either." She looked at him pointedly. "It's almost becoming a habit." She fished for her keys as they reached her porch.

"Why would I do that?"

"You tell me." She smiled coyly. "Come in." She closed the door after him and then headed into the kitchen. "I'll just grab some ice so make yourself comfortable."

Angel looked around the living room. They had a nice house, he had to admit. Deciding to be nosy he was scanning the titles of Joyce's collection of art books when several pictures on the mantelpiece caught his eye. One was of Buffy when she was very little, ice-skating, wrapped up in a pink coat and gloves, concentrating on not falling over, and still managing to look adorable. There was a formal portrait picture of Buffy and her Mom that had clearly been taken recently, but it was the photo to the left of it that intrigued him most.

The gold frame held Buffy in her early teens and an older boy, his arm wrapped round her protectively. He had dark hair and eyes and a smile that looked as though he could charm anything out of anyone.

"That's my brother," said Buffy as she stood in the doorway.

"Sorry," said Angel hurriedly putting the frame back in its place, "I didn't mean to pry I was just..."

"It's okay," said Buffy. "His name's Doyle. He lives with his Mom in L.A."

"His Mom?"

"Yeah," said Buffy putting the ice on the table. "Doyle's technically my half-brother. Dad was seeing Doyle's Mom- Alice I think her name was- pretty heavily before he met my Mom. He got her pregnant and then met my Mom and dropped Alice like a ton of bricks. Mom didn't know anything about it until she showed up asking for child support."

She smiled at the photo. "I hated Doyle before I met him, I couldn't believe my Dad could have loved anyone else but my Mom. And then I ended up going to the same school he was at and we were forced into the same social circles and parties, and after I got over it I found I really liked him." She sighed. "And now with the divorce and everything, Doyle's the one person I know who understands. After all, Dad abandoned them first, and now he's done it to us." She laughed bitterly. "My Dad's not good at commitment."

She motioned for Angel to sit down and wrapped the ice in a towel, gently pressing it against his jaw. He hissed.

"Sorry."

"So you're close huh?"

She nodded. "I don't know what I'd do without him."

Angel swallowed down the twinge of jealousy at their close relationship."Does he know about Owen?" He could have bitten his tongue out but the words were already spoken.

Buffy's expression closed off. "Yes. But he doesn't know about the werewolves, if that's what you're asking. Your secrets are still safe."

"I didn't mean it like that," said Angel in frustration. "I..."

The key turned in the lock of the front door.

"Buffy?"

"We're in the livingroom Mom," called Buffy, pressing the icepack closer to his jaw. He winced as the cold seeped into his cheek.

"Buffy I...oh, hello."

Angel nodded sheepishly at the woman standing in the doorway. "Hi."

Buffy fidgeted. " Oh! Okay... Um... Angel, uh, this is my mom. Mom, this is Angel. We ran into each other on the way home." Joyce raised an eyebrow. "Er... Angel ran into a lamppost."

Angel shot Buffy a look and then smiled pleasantly at Joyce. "Yes, I do that a lot. I'm very clumsy. You might say I was known for it."

Joyce nodded, disbelievingly. "Right."

"Angel's been helping me with my history, you know I've been toiling there." Buffy swallowed. "It was quite a coincidence that we ran into each other."

"Yes," said Angel, his sarcasm bubbling under his genial tone. "If I hadn't run into that lamppost I would never have ended up here."

Joyce's lips quirked at the blatant lies but she held her peace. She glanced at the living room clock pointedly. "It's a little late for tutoring. I'm gonna go to bed, and, Buffy?" She turned to leave the room.

Her daughter plastered on a big fake smile. "I'll say good night and do the same!"

Joyce nodded and then looked over at Angel. "It was nice to meet you. But I'd be more careful where you walk next time."

Angel nodded. "I will do."

As soon as Joyce was upstairs and safely tucked up in bed, her heartbeat and breathing deep in the rhythms of sleep Angel turned to Buffy.

"A lamppost?" He said, clearly unimpressed. "Do you think you're Mom's that gullible?"

Buffy rolled her eyes and took away the ice. Angel's cheek had already lost its dark coloured bruising and even now they were fading and vanishing.

"Well, what did you want me to say? Hi Mom, Angel got punched by me because he was stalking me and I thought he was a vampire, oh and hey those really do exist?"

He glared at her. "No, but you could have made me sound less of a klutz."

She snickered. "I think she figured that one out for herself."

He grabbed her playfully. "Hey! I am not a klutz."

"Right." She had to crane her head up to look at him and suddenly she realised how close they were. Apprehension filled her and she broke away from the embrace, sweeping her hair in front of her face and going to stand by the living room window. Her back towards him she tried to reign in her warring emotions.

Angel sighed. "Look Buffy..."

She cut him off. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. I really can't be around you. Because when I am..."

Angel ran a hand through his hair. "Right."

"…all I can ever think about is how badly I want to kiss you."

"What?"

Buffy let out a breath. "We can never be anything…Owen's seriously hurt in hospital and here I am wanting to kiss you…what does that make me?" Angel crossed the room and lifted her chin. Their eyes met.

"It makes you human."

And then he kissed her. It was soft and gentle, just the brief pressure of his lips on hers, the reassuring comfort of him, the solid familiarity. Owen lying comatose in his hospital bed, cocooned in a nest of wires and machines made her pull back.

"I'm sorry."

Angel nodded. "I understand." He kissed her temple and then left.

Only when the door was shut did she let herself cry.

* * *

One week later...

Buffy scratched her head and stared at the algebra blankly. "Who decided to put letters into maths? It was bad enough with the numbers but why add 3x squared to 15a- over 7ax?" She shook her head. "This is sooo unfair."

She was contemplating phoning Willow for serious emergency help when her Mom popped her head round the door.

"Buffy."

There was a particular tone in her voice that Buffy had only heard once before, and that was when she'd had to tell her that her parents were getting a divorce. The voice that meant whatever she was going to tell her was very, very bad.

"Mom?"

"The hospital just called."

Buffy fidgeted nervously. "And?"

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry." Buffy's face drained of all colour.

"He's gone isn't he?" She sank down onto her bed and buried her head in her hands.

Joyce hurried over to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her. "The nurse said it was very peaceful, he just sort of, slipped away." Her daughter sobbed into her shoulder. "I'm so sorry. But they're very sure he didn't feel any pain. He was just sleeping."

"But he's never gonna wake up now is he?" Buffy choked, hardly able to get her words out in between her tears. "Owen, I'm so sorry."

"Shush, sweetheart. It wasn't your fault, there was nothing you could do."

Buffy nodded and let herself be rocked by her mother, but inside her heart felt like it had sunk down into her stomach. She hadn't even had the chance to say goodbye.

* * *

The first few hours had been the hardest, her mind unable to settle on anything but Owen's face before he'd been hit, and then afterwards in the hospital. She felt constantly sick and tired, and her eyes were red and blotchy from constantly crying. Now, several days later all she felt was empty, like she'd been drained dry of everything. Now everything was an effort, even breathing, the push pull movement of her lungs, the effort to stay alive. All she wanted to do was curl up in a dark corner and never come out.

Her friends had come round but had left soon after, not knowing what to say and not getting much response from Buffy who'd just looked at them vacantly. Their phrases of consolation, though meant well, meant nothing to her.

Several days later, when nothing had changed, Joyce decided to call Giles. She knew Buffy trusted the librarian and had spoken of him often, and warmly.

When he knocked she ushered him into the living room. "She's sleeping," she said quietly, glancing up at the ceiling, as though she could see her daughter through the plaster.

"There's nothing else I need to know about the accident is there Mr Giles?" She sighed. "Buffy's really upset and that's completely understandable. But it's as though there's something weighing on her. Some sort of guilt."

"Grieving people always feel guilty, survivors guilt, but it's just a natural part of the process. In time Buffy will move on," offered Giles.

"I know that," said Joyce rubbing her temples. "But it's more than that." She leant forwards confidentially. "Sometimes she has nightmares. And..." she swallowed. "She wakes up screaming. I've never heard anything like it. Buffy won't talk to me about it." She pressed his hands pleadingly. "Will you talk to her about it? I know she confides in you."

Giles nodded. "Of course, Mrs Summers."

"Joyce, please."

"Joyce. I'll speak to Buffy about it tomorrow; that is if she's in school?"

"Yes, she says she's got to make an appearance sometime." She smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you ever so much. I don't know what Buffy would do without you."

Giles smiled uncomfortably.

_She'd probably be better off. She wouldn't wake up screaming each night from watching her boyfriend be hit by car. She wouldn't be terrified of being killed by vampires, or associating with werewolves. She would be blissfully ignorant of all the creatures of the night. She would be safe, like you._

"Neither do I," was all he said.

* * *

The day of the funeral rolled round and Buffy had finally pulled herself out of her grief enough to function properly. After Giles had spoken to her ( the conversation was blurred and fuzzy in her head but she knew it had involved a lot of crying and Giles' soothing voice speaking to her gently and holding her close) she'd gradually managed to get herself under control.

She'd spent all of her tears, thrown all her breakable items in her room and then cried some more when she couldn't piece them together. She'd shouted at all her friends who'd come round and her Mom, and then after apologising and breathing, being calm and alone, she'd finally found some sense of peace.

It was a hollow, cold sort of feeling, but for the moment it was enough.

She waited until everyone had left the grounds before she finally went to see his grave. She stared at the marble until it blurred and then she blinked. A familiar presence came and stood next to her.

"It's kinda ironic," she muttered, shrinking deeper into her jacket. "Owen, I mean. He was so excited about the vampires, about you." She couldn't bear to look at Angel, and her voice was raw and painful.

"And he didn't think of the danger. He could have been so easily injured. The things that go bump in the night." She laughed but there was no humour in her voice. "And in the end it was a car. A hit and run. Just one human killing another."

Angel's thumb wiped away a tear she hadn't even realised was trickling down her face.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Buffy took a shuddering breath and nodded. "I know."

She reached for his hand blindly as she traced the letters engraved into the headstone with her eyes. The dates of Owen's life were so short. Final. The poem written on there, his favourite by Emily Dickenson.

_Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me_

_The carriage held but just ourselves and Immortality._

She sighed and squeezed Angel's hand. It was time to go.

"Take me home?"

"Sure."

* * *

Weeks later on the way home from school she found herself unconsciously tracing out the route to his grave. She'd been back several times since, but never on her own, and she suddenly found that had a lot she needed to tell him. She knelt down at the grave stone.

"Hey." She tidied the flowers in the little vase and leant back on her heels.

"I guess I wanted to say thank you." She began to fiddle with a lily. "I know that sounds strange, me talking to you, saying thanks, but I mean it. I'd forgotten what it was like to be a normal girl, without all the supernatural stuff. I'd begun to think that the only excitement I could have was being with the monsters, fighting with Kendra and the wolves." She paused. "Being with Angel."

She put the lily back in its place.

"And then I met you and for once it was okay to be normal. And I know you were into the whole supernatural stuff, you should have seen your expression when you found out about it..."

She sighed.

"But you know what? That night, I had the most fun when I was just being a girl, and you were just being a boy and we were dancing. Being normal." She stood up.

"So I guess what I'm trying to say, in a really awkward way is thanks. For reminding me it's okay to be normal, and that there's plenty of danger in the human world." She frowned and grazed the headstone with her fingertips.

"Sometimes too much."

* * *

Well, that's it folks, hope you liked the installment, don't worry there'll be more fun and fighting and romance and tension in the next chapter. If you liked it please review, if you didn't let me know why and what I can change and give me some feedback. It's all welcome and loved and treasured, like the last piece of chocolate in a bar.

**Give me your last rolo and review! :D**


	5. Doyle

**Feedback:** YES! Feedback and criticism (but only constructive) is not only appreciated, it's one of the things that makes writing so much fun!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own BTVS, but I really wish I did. Angel leaving? Never would have happened.

**Pairing:** B/A (eventually), W/O, S/F

**Summary:** AU. **The prequel to Werewolves of L.A. **Buffy Summers is an ordinary girl, living a normal life, until her Mom gets a job as an art curator in a little town called Sunnydale. She thinks her life has come to an end. In fact, it's only just beginning…

* * *

"I still can't believe he was a demon," sighed Willow miserably as Buffy plaited her long auburn hair.

"I wish you'd stop beating yourself up over this," said Xander through a mouthful of popcorn, sitting next to them on Buffy's bed. It was time for the traditional monthly sleepover, and the three were vegged out in the Summers' residence watching dodgy romance movies.

On second thoughts, mused Buffy, chick flicks had probably not been the best movie choice considering what had happened in the past few months.

"To be fair none of us are exactly high in the dating leagues at the moment. I mean, Xander had a crush on a giant bug woman who he had to cut up into little pieces, and then the first guy I liked turned out to be a werewolf." She pursed her lips and concentrated on keeping all of Willow's hair between her fingers. "And the second one I liked ended up dead."

"So really we're all winners in the big dating game of life," said Xander sarcastically. He patted Willow's arm in consolation. "Who was to know that Malcolm would turn out to be a big demon robot who would try to kill us all? He seemed like a really nice guy, well, to start with anyway."

Willow laughed despite herself. "Well, at least we have the talent show to distract ourselves with."

Xander groaned. "Stupid new principal. Gah, I hate that man!"

Buffy chuckled. "I feel so sorry for you guys. I can't believe Snyder roped Spike and Faith into doing it too. I wish I could have seen their faces."

"Yeah, I've never seen Spike look so bummed. Oh no, I have – when we swapped all his hair gel that one April Fool's day, and he ended up putting glue in his hair instead. He had to shave it off in the end."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Harsh."

Willow pursed her lips. "Well, we were twelve and it grew back when he transformed that month."

The blonde shrugged. "Right. Anyway, I've never been so glad for having Professor Farley run over his time; otherwise he might have got me too."

"Yeah," groaned Xander. "The one class I actually decided to skip and look how it worked out."

Buffy sniggered. "Crime doesn't pay Xand, and neither does missing social sciences."

"Goody two-shoes."

"Hey!" Buffy scooped Willow's hair into her right hand and swatted him with her left. "I am not. I was all ready to go and be delinquent with you guys when he spotted me heading to meet you. I couldn't get out of it."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Hey- is that your cell vibrating?"

"I don't hear anything."

Willow nodded as well. "Someone's definitely trying to call you, where'd you leave it?"

Buffy frowned. "Um…"

"Buffy! Your phone's going off!" Called Joyce from the living room.

The blonde teenager shot them both a look. "Downstairs apparently. No wonder I couldn't hear it. You and your crazy sensitive hearing." She scooted off the bed. "I'll be one mo."

Buffy came back ten minutes later frowning pensively. "That was Doyle."

Willow and Xander shot each other looks. "Really?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I'm going to pretend that you both didn't listen in on my conversation."

Xander threw his hands up to his chest in mock innocence. "Us, listen in?"

Willow patted the bed and Buffy flopped back onto it. "I thought you'd be happy to hear from your brother."

"Well, yeah, normally," said Buffy, fiddling with the bed sheet. "He wants to come see me."

"And that's bad because?"

"Because he said it in his 'I've got something really bad to tell you' voice. The last time I heard that kind of tone was when my parents told me they were getting a divorce."

"When's he coming?" Asked Xander.

"Thursday," she answered, nibbling on a nail. "I asked if he wanted to stop here, but he's booked a motel for a couple of days."

"But that's the night of the Talent Show," he whined. "I thought you were gonna come and support our musical debut!"

"Oops?"

Xander huffed. "That wasn't even close to sounding sorry."

"Returning back to Doyle," said Willow, "he's obviously planning to stick around for a while. Whatever it is can't be that bad."

Xander nodded, his mouth stuffed full of popcorn.

Buffy shot her friends a look of disbelief. "This is my life. My parents got divorced, I moved to a Hellmouth, I have to worry about getting chewed on by supernatural stuff, and the reason I had to split up with my last boyfriend was because he died."

She sighed. "My track record says it's gonna be bad."

* * *

Buffy sank into a chair and watched the after school talent show rehearsal, trying not to wince as Cordelia sang.

"If she's trying to kill us with her voice, I think it's working."

She smiled as Angel took the seat next to her. "I know. I feel sorry for Giles, this is the fourth time he's had to listen to the…uh, noise." She saw him smile out of the corner of her eye. "Are you coming to it?"

"Yep. I wouldn't miss Spike making a fool of himself for the world."

"I knew you were coming for all the right reasons."

He chuckled. "And you?"

"Can't. Doyle's coming that night. We're going out for dinner."

"Anywhere nice?"

She shrugged. "He's broke, so it'll probably be the first greasy spoon we find."

They continued to watch as Cordelia slowly murdered the song. "Fancy going to get a coffee?"

"Well, I'd offered to help Giles with the order and the programs." Cordelia skewered a high note. "Sure, let me grab my stuff."

She swung her bag round her shoulder and took Angel's proffered hand as they hurried out of the school. Angel's grip didn't lessen as they reached the sidewalk and Buffy seemed content to leave her hand in the warm, familiar fingers.

"Have you heard about the murders?"

"Mmm," said Buffy. "They're killing off all the talent show contestants, and after hearing Cordelia, I can understand why."

Angel smirked. "Any theories?"

"Nope, I'm leaving all of that to Merrick and Kendra. My scooby days are behind me."

"Really?"

"Nope, I just haven't had time at the mo. And I've got my own problems to worry about."

"Ah, Willow mentioned something about Doyle sounding…"

"Cryptic? Upset? Worried?" She pushed open the door of the coffee house and found a table near the window. "Yeah. I just keep thinking off all the horrible things he could have to tell me."

Angel ordered their drinks and then put a large, chocolate chip muffin in front of her.

"You look like you need it," he said at Buffy's raised eyebrow.

"Thanks." She gently began to unpeel it from the paper case. "I mean, what if he's come to say that he's moving and I won't ever get to see him again? Or that he doesn't want to see me, and he hates me-"

"Now you're just being irrational."

She chewed a chocolate chip. "Maybe. But what if I'm not?"

The waitress brought their drinks over and then hurried off to deal with the growing queue. Buffy wrapped her hands around her cup, soaking in the warmth.

"What are you really worried about?" Asked Angel gently.

Buffy glanced down and dug her nails into the cup. "That he's dying. My cousin, Celia, died when I was eight and I'm worried Doyle's going to get ill like she did."

Angel placed his hand over hers. "Buffy, I'm sure he's fine."

"But-"

"There's no point worrying yourself until you actually know what's wrong. You'll just make yourself sick."

She bit her lip. "I guess."

He squeezed her hand. "And whatever it is, we'll get through it together."

She smiled and squeezed his hand back. "Thanks."

There was a pause as Angel seemed to be having a debate with himself. Finally he opened his mouth.

"They're showing reruns of Breakfast At Tiffany's at the cinema. Want to come with me?"

Buffy pulled her hand back and her smile dimmed. "Angel, I-"

"No, it's alright. It's too soon isn't it?" He sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

Her lips twisted. "I'm just not ready to jump straight back into our, well, whatever it was." She frowned. "Or dating in general for that matter. Just, give me some time?"

He nodded and linked his fingers together round his own coffee. Buffy decided to steer the conversation back to a safer topic.

"So have you got any ideas about who the killer is?" She laughed as she replayed it in her head. "Is it just me, or are you worried that when things get awkward our safe topics are murder, demons and the supernatural. I mean, most normal would people talk about the weather."

Angel smiled darkly. "Welcome to the Hellmouth."

* * *

It was Thursday, D-Day, time to face the music. Buffy swallowed. The least she could do was to hope the guys broke a leg in their big stage debut. Okay, bad choice of phrase living in Sunnydale. She pushed open the library doors.

"Hey guys, I just came to say…why are you standing on a table?"

Xander turned frightened eyes to the blonde standing in the library entrance. "The puppet ran off!"

Buffy rolled her eyes and walked in, perching herself on the enquiry desk. "Xand, what are you talking about? What puppet?"

"Morgan's puppet, Sid."

"Right, because of course being completely inanimate he can walk right out of here."

Xander ran his hands through his hair. "Don't throw my words back in my face!"

Giles and Willow appeared from out of the stacks.

"Xander, I assume you have a good reason for standing on top of the library furniture?"

"Sid's gone!"

"Good enough."

Buffy folded her arms. "So the puppets really real and that's what's killing off the students. So much for the human killer theory."

"It would appear so," replied Giles, casting his gaze around the room, as though the puppet would suddenly appear from under a chair, wielding a carving knife.

"Kendra's gonna have a ball. Bet she's never had to slay a mannequin before." The slayer walked in at that precise moment. "You're in for a fun night." Kendra raised an eyebrow. Buffy smiled back falsely cheerily. "Well, good luck for tonight, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have a nice night with Doyle," said Willow as Buffy opened the library door.

"Yeah, I'll try. Have fun killing your dummy."

* * *

"Honey, you're fidgeting," said Joyce, watching as her daughter twirled her ring round her finger for the twentieth time.

"Sorry," said Buffy apologetically, and sat on her hands.

"You're not nervous are you?"

"No! That would be stupid. Why would I be worried about seeing Doyle again?"

Joyce shrugged. "I don't know, did something happen on your last visit?"

"Nope. I guess I'm just nervous for Xander and Willow."

"Oh yes," Joyce smiled and began cutting up vegetables for her meal. "It's a shame you didn't get involved, hon."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Mom, me and stage performances are unmixy things. It would have been a nightmare."

Joyce pursed her lips. "Well, I just think it would have been nice for me to come and have seen you in something at your school."

"I know you're trying to be supportive, but don't be."

The doorbell cut off Joyce's response. Buffy leapt off the kitchen stool and raced for the door. "I'll get it!"

Doyle was standing on the other side, grinning at her. "Hey sis." She let him grab her in a bear hug and then pulled away.

"You're early. Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"

Joyce appeared behind her. "Buffy, don't tease him. Hello Doyle."

The young man grinned and produced a bouquet of Chrysanthemums. "For you."

"Oh they're lovely," Joyce beamed. "I'll go put these in some water."

He turned to Buffy and she tucked her arm under his. "Ready to go? I see you've dressed up."

She glanced down at her jeans and green dress shirt. "Haha. You made an effort as usual."

Doyle raised an eyebrow. "My trainers are comfy."

"I was talking about your jeans. I swear if you took them off they'd probably still be able to stand up. Have they even seen soapy water in the past three years?"

"I'm saving the planet."

"By not using a washing machine? Ew, gross." He scrubbed his hands through her hair. "Hey! Watch the do!"

"That's revenge for saying I don't wash. I'll have you know Tara thinks I'm very clean."

Buffy laughed. "Has she lost her sense of smell?"

"Oi! Watch it blondie."

Joyce reappeared at the front door. "Are you two going to be leaving anytime soon, or is the front porch really that great?"

"Sorry Joyce, we'll be on our way."

"See you Mom." The door closed behind her as they walked down the street. "So how is your lovely girlfriend?"

Doyle shifted awkwardly. "She's fine. She's doing some really great paintings at the college and they're thinking of holding an exhibition of her work soon."

Buffy raised an eyebrow at his discomfort but said nothing. "I wonder if Mom would be interested. Maybe we could come up and see it."

"Yeah, that'd be great. Tara would really appreciate your support." There was an awkward pause and Doyle rubbed the back of his head. "Listen, Buffy, I haven't been entirely straight with you. I wanted to talk to you about…"

He coughed and began to gasp for breath.

"Doyle?"

He took a deep breath in and out, his face white. "I'm alright."

She rubbed his back. "Are you sure?"

He nodded, his face still ashen. "What I was about to say was that there's something you need to know about Tara and me…"

He burst into another fit of coughing and doubled over on the sidewalk. "Doyle!"

He waved her away. "I'll be fine!"

"You're not fine-"

He vomited into the gutter. "You're sick. Come on, we'll go back to your motel."

"But dinner…"

"We can order in," said Buffy firmly.

"About what I was going to say…"

"Can we talk about this in your room? Sunnydale isn't exactly the safest place to walk at night."

Doyle shrugged and let her sling his arm over her shoulder. "Sure. Do you want me to walk you back afterwards?"

"No!" Said Buffy and grabbed her brother's arm. "I mean, I'll ring some friends after we've finished. We all walk home together."

He began to shiver, even though the night was a warm one. "You really take this protection thing seriously, don't you? You've never been this paranoid, not even in L.A."

Buffy nodded. "Well you know how it is, little town, people go a bit crazy."

"Right."

They managed to stumble back to the motel that Doyle was stopping in fairly quickly and Buffy soon had her brother tucked up in bed. She put a hand on his forehead.

"You're burning up. Doyle, were you feeling alright before you came here?"

He nodded, as a cold sweat began to bead on his forehead. "I felt fine, right up until about sixish. And then I've been getting these sudden coughing spasms, but they don't last long."

He shivered violently. "I'll be fine in a bit, maybe it's one of those twenty four hour things."

She bit her lip. "Maybe. But I'd feel better if Mom took a look at you. We should have gone back home."

"I don't wanna trouble Joyce."

He coughed again as another fit took him, this one longer than the rest. Buffy was helpless to do anything but watch.

She fetched him a glass of water from the bathroom tap once it was over and helped him sip it. Ten seconds later it had come back up again, and Doyle was gripping his stomach in agony.

"Doyle?"

"Now I know what it feels like to be a woman."

Buffy managed a weak smile. "Well, we know you're not pregnant."

"No," he choked out, "but I feel like something's ripping me in two." His face had now lost all colour and in the moonlight spilling in through the ripped curtains he looked corpse like, caught in his death throws.

The coughing seemed to have stopped for the moment, but the agonising pains in his body were getting worse. His eyes rolled back into his head as the spasms lanced across his body.

"Doyle. Doyle!" She dialled 911 on her phone frantically.

"Hello, which service do you require?"

"Amb-"

Her phone beeped and then died as the battery failed. "Damn!" She chewed her lips frantically and tried to calm her brother down. It didn't look like he could hear her anymore.

"I'm going to get help."

She'd reached the door when Doyle suddenly convulsed on the bed, curled up in the foetal position. He was shaking frantically, his teeth sinking into his lips so that blood ran from his mouth. He let out a cry as his flesh rippled. His skin tore in two down his back and ripped itself from his body.

She screamed.

* * *

Right, so that's all from this chapter, if you enjoyed it please read and review, and I may just post the next chapter up a little quicker so as to put you all out of your misery. On the other hand I may not ;)

**Please press the shiny review button of gladness!**


	6. Repercussions

**Feedback:** YES! Feedback and criticism (but only constructive) is not only appreciated, it's one of the things that makes writing so much fun!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own BTVS, but I really wish I did. Angel leaving? Never would have happened.

**Pairing:** B/A (eventually), W/O, S/F

**Summary:** AU. **The prequel to Werewolves of L.A. **Buffy Summers is an ordinary girl, living a normal life, until her Mom gets a job as an art curator in a little town called Sunnydale. She thinks her life has come to an end. In fact, it's only just beginning…

* * *

"Doyle?"

Fur began to ripple across his skin. His bones, breaking and shifting under his skin made him howl in pain, the ribs under his belly moving backwards. He was forced onto his hands and knees as his arms grew longer, his shoulder blades cracking to make room for his thicker, shorter neck. Foam frothed at his mouth.

Buffy called his name again, but it was pointless. He wouldn't have understood her, even if he could hear her though his agony. There was nothing she could do except watch in horror as her brother changed into a werewolf before her eyes. She doubted a couple of aspirin would cure this.

"Doyle?"

He convulsed again on the bed, his hands transforming into thickly clawed paws, shredding the covers on the bed. Frozen in place she could only watch as the last changes came upon him. He turned to face her as his features morphed, his nose growing grotesquely, the skin melting to form a muzzle, twin ears sprouting from his head, thick, dark fur finally covering all of him. At last his tail emerged.

Golden eyes bored into hers, eyes nothing like Doyle's soft, kind ones. These held only the intelligence of the animal, the hunger of the newly born, the blood threat of the hunter. She swallowed. Doyle was nowhere in those eyes. She was on her own.

The werewolf now took up most of the motel bed, easily the biggest thing in the room. He began to growl, his jaws widening to show huge, curved fangs and his ears pricked, his hackles rising. Tasting blood in her mouth she watched the huge wolf crouch, her own muscles tensing, knowing that if she timed this wrong-

Doyle leapt.

She barely dodged out of the way, one of his claws raking across her shirt, ripping the bottom and the sleeve into bits. She ran for the bathroom, slamming it just in time as the wolf bounded against the door. Her fingers scrambling for the lock, the wood began to splinter under the massive weight of werewolf; his claws easily sliding thought the cheap wooden frame. She had only minutes to find some kind of weapon before he got through and splattered her blood up the nice white tiles.

She threw her useless phone in the bin and anxiously looked around the bathroom for anything to defend herself with. She frantically opened the cabinet in there, but only toiletries fell out, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, hair gel.

"Oh great, so I'll be mauled to death by a werewolf, but on the plus side he's got great hygiene."

She chewed her lip as the door groaned again, more chunks of wood disappearing as his claws scrabbled against the flimsy barrier.

"Stupid cheap motel. This would never have happened at the Hilton."

Her heartbeat was now a rapid tattoo in her chest, an angry bird trying to get out of a cage. The door was almost broken now, the wolf trying to shove his head through the gap he'd created. His eyes lighted on hers and she stared back defiantly, even as she stumbled back against the walls. Her knees banged into something hard and cold. She turned. The fire extinguisher.

Her heart leapt. Her hands closing round salvation she grabbed the canister and fumbled for the pin. Immediately thick foam spurted out, coating the wolf, stinging his eyes. Doyle yelped and moved back but his head was stuck in the gap and his only way was forward. Snarling in irritation he burst through but Buffy had already lifted the heavy can up. The wolf's momentum carried him forward and she smashed the can down on his head. He growled in pain as she cracked it over his head again and again before he finally slipped into unconsciousness.

She let herself rest for a moment, her chest heaving, a huge pile of sleeping foam covered werewolf at her feet, and the motel room trashed. She mechanically made herself tie up her brother using her shredded shirt and some of Doyle's ties from his wardrobe. It wouldn't stop him breaking free but it made her feel better. She dragged him as best she could into the bathtub, though he wouldn't all fit in, his paws dangling out, muzzle resting against the plastic taps.

Then she let herself cry.

* * *

Doyle didn't wake up until late into the afternoon.

Buffy was staring at him from her chair by the door, the canister still clutched tightly in her hands. She pursed her lips. "We need to talk."

"Oh god, Buffy, I'm so sorry, did I hurt you?" He clutched his head. "Did a train hit me last night?"

"No, that was me and Mr fire extinguisher here. You woke up a couple of times so I just had to keep on hitting you."

Doyle winced. "Did I hurt you? Did I cut you?"

"Nope, I'm not infected if that's what you're asking, though my new shirt took a beating. I had to change into one of yours because you sliced and diced mine." She motioned to his bonds. "You're wearing the last remains of it."

He winced. "I'll buy you another one, I promise."

"That's not the point Doyle!" She screamed in frustration. "You didn't tell me you were infected. I could have died, other people could have been hurt, you could have hurt my Mom." She scrubbed her face tiredly with her hand. "What if you'd changed at my front door or in the street? You could have killed me and then wreaked havoc on the rest of the town! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because how was I to know you'd believe me?" he snapped. "Buffy I would have sounded crazy and you know it!" He tried to reign in his frustration seeing how upset his sister was. "I never meant to hurt you. I just didn't know what to do. I was planning on telling you, I just never got the chance."

Buffy got up from the chair and rummaged in the other room. When she came back she tossed him some clothes, her expression grim. Doyle's apologies died in his throat.

"Put these on. I'm going to call Mom, she's probably worried sick." She motioned to her phone in the waste bin. "My cell is dead and you of course haven't brought yours with you, and believe me I've checked- real smart Doyle. And of course I couldn't leave the room to use the payphone in case you woke up and started snacking on the other guests." She glared at him. "You'd better hope she hasn't called the police to tell them I'm missing," and then she walked out, slamming the motel door behind her.

Doyle buried his head in his hands and wondered how he was going to fix this. If he could.

* * *

Buffy's fingers hovered over the metal buttons and then came to a decision, punching the numbers she'd memorised long ago.

"This is Sunnydale High School Library, Mr Giles speaking. How may I help you?"

"Doyle's a werewolf."

"Oh." Giles voice had taken on a very odd tone and then he came back to himself. "Oh, right. Bring him to the library then immediately, Buffy." He paused. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, we'll be there in thirty; I've just got to explain to my Mom why neither of us came home last night."

"I wish you good luck."

"Yeah," she swallowed. "I'm going to need it."

"Goodbye then Buffy. See you later."

"Yeah, bye Giles." She heard the receiver click on the other end and she was left with the phone still clutched in her hand, listening to the dial tone. She slowly hung up and then put more money in the machine, reluctantly pressing the number for home. She put the receiver up to her ear and bit her lip.

"Mom? Hi, it's me."

* * *

Doyle had packed everything by the time Buffy came back. He watched his sister in concern. "How'd it go?"

"Oh just peachy. Needless to say I'm grounded and you're in so much trouble you'll be lucky if Mom doesn't greet you with the kitchen cleaver when she next sees you."

"Great." He closed the suitcase. "And what did you tell her?"

"Nothing. She knew whatever was going to come out of my mouth was a lie. She answered the phone, she grounded me, she threatened your life, and she hung up. It was a fun conversation."

"Listen, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make things awkward between you and your Mom."

"Well it's too late to change things now." She relented slightly at Doyle's expression. "I'm sure we would have argued sooner or later, whether you turned into a man eating wolf or not."

He managed a bleak smile. "Right, but how are we going to explain the room?"

"Just pay them extra and there's no questions asked," she shrugged. "This is Sunnydale. A room gets trashed it's either gangs on PCP or really vigorous sex."

"Oh."

He picked up his suitcase. "I suppose this is the part where I skip town and you never see me again, right?"

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "No way are you getting off that easily. I need you to meet some friends of mine." She grabbed his hand and tugged him along. "Then you get to skip town."

Doyle swallowed. "Why do I not like the way you just said friends?"

* * *

"Something's telling me I really don't want to go in there, Buffy," said Doyle, tugging his sister back from the library doors. "It's telling me to run right now."

"Don't be such a baby," she hissed, trying to pull him along. "I already told them you were coming."

"Yeah, but you never told me why."

The library doors slid open and Giles peered round. "If you two are quite finished with your argument, perhaps you and Doyle could actually come inside the library instead of dithering outside it."

Buffy glared at Doyle who had flinched back from Giles like he'd been scalded. "Come on."

Before Doyle could protest he'd been pulled inside. There were a small group of teenagers lounging on the library tables and chairs, who instantly glanced up as one, as the siblings entered.

"Doyle, meet my friends, guys this is my brother Doyle. The dark, broody one is Angel, blondie is Spike, then Will and Xander my best buds, the girl in the leather is Faith, and obviously this is Giles."

"That's great Buffy but why..."

"They're all werewolves too." She watched Doyle's face; he looked as if he didn't know whether to laugh, cry, smile, or frown.

"Well, I suppose that explains why I really didn't want to come in here." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "You're not going to hurt me are you? You know, I didn't realise I was putting Buffy in danger I just..."

There was a low growl coming from Angel and Buffy shot him a glare.

"Cut it out. I took care of it."

"Well," said Giles, trying to diffuse the tension, "be that as it may, we still need to discuss Doyle's newly infected status."

"I don't understand-why did Doyle change? It wasn't a full moon," asked Buffy. "If it had been maybe I would have realised what was happening earlier."

"Well, the newly infected are very sensitive to the lunar changes," replied Giles, hunting for his diaries in which to record the activities of the pack. "Whilst it's still a week to the full moon, and mature werewolves won't be forced to change until twenty-four hours before the full moon, the nearness can cause new wolves to change prematurely." He finally located the journal and a pen and looked at Buffy. "It's fortunate you knocked him out- Doyle could have been a mindless killing machine."

The wolf in question shivered. Giles began to scratch down details into the book. "Every bitten wolf has to learn to control the blood lust and the change. Only those who inherit the werewolf gene need no mastery of it, such as Faith and Angel."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "You were born a werewolf? You never mentioned that."

"You never asked."

"Coming back to the topic at hand," said Giles, "I need to know how you were infected."

Doyle stayed stonily silent.

"Doyle this is important- if there are rogue werewolves around we need to know so they don't hurt people, or attract the attention of hunters. Wolf pelts fetch a high price."

Buffy squeezed his hand. "It was Tara, wasn't it?" He nodded mutely.

"Buffy?"

"Tara is Doyle's girlfriend," she explained at Giles' quizzical expression, and then turned back to her brother. "You'd been funny about her name all night, and you had your first attack right after you said you wanted to talk about you and her."

Doyle's eyes were wet. "She's not going to get into trouble is she? It was an accident, she didn't mean to, she's the most gentle, wonderful person and she would never hurt anyone..."

"It's alright, calm down before you hyperventilate," said Giles sternly. "If you say it was an accident and you're happy for it to be passed over then Tara will be fine."

Doyle swallowed. "What if it hadn't been an accident?"

"Then Pack Law would have had to be enforced."

"Meaning?"

"Deliberately infecting an unwilling human carries the death penalty."

There was an awkward silence as Doyle contemplated how closely Tara had escaped execution. Tears of relief silently ran down his face and Buffy rubbed his back. "Hey, it's ok. Giles, can we move on?"

The librarian coughed. "Yes, of course. So you live in Los Angeles?" Doyle nodded.

"Well, we'll send you back there then - no doubt your girlfriend is part of the local pack. And I know their alpha Ethan. Yes, you'll fit in fine." Giles scribbled down a few more notes.

"What's he like?" Asked Doyle shakily.

"Ethan? He's a sneaky, conniving, clever man," said Giles, folding his arms. "And therefore a very capable leader. You'll be well taken care of."

"You sound as if you know him well."

"We're old friends." The sentence was tense. Giles looked at his watch. "Well, it's too late to take you up to L.A now; we can't have you changing in the car half way. You'll have to stay in the library tonight. I'll stay with you and you'll be locked up so there's no chance of any…accidents."

"Buffy are you alright? You're shaking."Angel wrapped an arm around her, kissing the top of her head.

"Delayed shock," posited Giles. "Perhaps you should go home."

"Doyle, do you want me to stay? I don't mind if you want me to."

Doyle shook his head in embarrassment. "Go, get some sleep. Come see me in the morning before I go?"

"OK." Buffy sighed. "I suppose I need to go show my face to Mom at some point. You guys won't be seeing me much, for like, ever."

"It's ok, we'll just have to be extra sneaky- we'll get good at climbing in through windows," said Willow with a smile.

"Thanks."

"I'll take you home," offered Angel. Doyle watched the interplay with a frown, but merely smiled tightly when Buffy sent him a quizzical look.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Doyle nodded and watched her walk out of the library doors. He turned to the boy next to him.

"Is she dating him?"

"Who, Angel?" Xander shrugged. "Who knows with those two? It's the Buffy and Angel saga."

"It's true," chipped in Willow. "There's sparks and kissing and then she finds out he's a werewolf. He wants to protect her so there's no more kissing. So she dates others guys, Angel gets jealous there's more sparks and kissing. Then other guys die Buffy gets sad and no more kissing. Now? She's almost mauled by her brother; Angel get's protective, kissing is probably imminent."

Willow frowned. "Which probably means knowing the Hellmouth, something really horrible is going to happen so they won't date."

Doyle's face was a picture of confusion. "Buffy never mentioned any of that in her phone calls."

"Duh," said Faith. "Now let's get you chained up."

Xander grimaced. "I do not want to know how long you've been waiting to say that."

"You can have your turn too if you want Xan," she said, blowing him a kiss.

"No thanks. I'd rather stay in my S&M free zone."

"You guys are weird," said Doyle sinking into a chair. "And I've just become one of you haven't I?"

Faith smirked. "Welcome to the club."

* * *

"Thanks for dinner," said Buffy gratefully, licking her fingertips which were still sticky from the burger. "I kind of missed tea last night, breakfast and lunch with the whole werewolf thing. And hungry Buffy is not a happy, friendly Buffy to be around."

Angel smirked. "You're welcome. So does this count as a date?"

"You buying me food after my brother tried to eat me? Really big no." She laughed. "Sorry to deflate your ego."

"Don't worry, it just gives me an excuse to take you out again."

Buffy smiled at him from under her lashes. "Who says I'm going to say yes?"

"We'll see. Not even you can resist me for long."

"Well, with charm like that I'd risk letting you convince Mom to unground me," muttered Buffy as she approached the house. "But I don't think even your skills will work on her. Plus, inviting a boy into the house is probably not a great idea on the rage-o-meter. Maybe you'd better not come in through the front door."

Angel smirked. "Window climbing it is. Good thing you've got that tree next to it."

"I thank it every day for making me sneakier." She watched him pad quietly over to the tree and begin to climb the trunk. She sighed and faced the front door. Time to see Mom. She turned the key quietly in the lock and peered round the door.

"Mom?" She called out quietly. No answer. Frowning she stepped into the living room and spotted the note propped up against the clock.

_Buffy._

_Had to go. Emergency at the Art Curators Convention across town. Back tomorrow. We'll talk then._

_Mom._

Ok, so she couldn't have sounded more cross, but Buffy was glad she wouldn't have to deal with her for one more night.

"Why couldn't there have been an emergency last night? Then she wouldn't have noticed if I didn't get back in time," she grouched. Still, any reprieve was a mercy. "Angel," she called up the stairs. "Mom's not here, you can come down now."

She grabbed some ice-cream from the freezer and a couple of spoons and walked into the living room, flopping down next to Angel who had settled himself on the sofa. He raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Said Buffy, handing him a spoon. "I think a near death experience allows me to binge on Half Baked. Besides, if you share it's only half the calories."

"I didn't say a word."

"No it was the expression on your face," she smirked. She swirled her spoon around, scooping as much chocolate as she could onto it. "You realise walking me home and eating ice-cream means you have to sit through a chick flick too."

Angel smeared ice-cream on her nose. "Forget it."

* * *

Four hours later and having watched both _Bridget Jones' Diary_ and _Notting Hill,_ Angel had to concede that he had lost major masculinity points. On the plus side, Buffy was curled up against his side, her head resting on his chest. She yawned.

"Oh sorry," she shifted against him. "You're just so comfy."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he smiled. "But you're tired. I should head back."

"Now? But it's nearly midnight. The vamps are out in party mode."

He smirked. "Buffy, I'm not exactly human- I can take care of myself."

"Then stay for me," she said quietly. "I'm not sure I'm up to sleeping on my own tonight."

"You just got nearly eaten by a werewolf- are you sure you want another one sleeping in your room?"

She reached for his hand. "I trust you." He smiled and savoured her little fingers in his. "Besides," she grinned, pulling him from the couch and up the stairs, "I managed to take on Doyle with a fire extinguisher, I reckon I could totally take you with just my bare hands."

"You can take me anytime with your bare hands Buffy- you don't have to ask."

She blushed furiously and smacked him. "That's not what I meant and you know it." Angel merely smirked.

"Will you be alright on the floor?"

"It's fine, I've slept on worse."

She hunted around in the closet. "I've got a sleeping bag in here somewhere." His hand settled over hers.

"Let me worry about the sleeping bag- you get changed."

She raised an eyebrow. "With you in the room, are you joking? I said I trusted you not to change into a werewolf and maul me to death, not that I trusted you wouldn't peek whilst I undressed." She grabbed her pyjamas. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

Ten minutes later Buffy emerged, clad in her nightwear, her hair loose around her shoulders. She slipped into bed and switched off the light.

"Are you sure you're alright down there?"

"Well, unless you're offering me alternative accommodation then it's fine."

She was glad it was dark so he couldn't see her blush. "No, no, if the floor's good that's ok." Minutes past as she tried to get rid of the images her mind were supplying. She scrubbed her hand over her eyes and willed the x-rated thoughts to vanish. Angel could probably sense the heat coming from her cheeks. She swallowed.

"Angel?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you snore?"

"I don't know. It's been a long time since anybody's been in a position to let me know."

Buffy smiled to herself in the darkness and then settled herself into the pillow, trying not to imagine that it was Angel.

* * *

"He spent the night? In your room? In your bed?"

Buffy rolled her eyes as she greeted her friends at the school entrance. "Not _in_ my bed, _by_ my bed Xander."

"That is so romantic!" Willow gushed. "Did you, uh... I mean, did he, uh..."

"Perfect gentleman."

The girls exchanged smiles, whilst Xander kicked the gravel. "Right."

Buffy's smile dimmed slightly. "I managed to sneak him out of the house before Mom got back, and then the fun began."

"Was she mad?"

"Are vampires evil? She was pretty fuming. Not only that she didn't know where I was, but that I'd missed a school day. I'm only being allowed out because Giles rang this morning to tell Mom that I needed to collect some missed work."

"Parents. Gotta love that educational drive."

"Yeah, let's hope I can forge a note for the teachers come Monday. I am not getting a detention for this." Buffy pushed open the library doors and frowned. The room was empty. "Doyle? Giles?"

The door to Giles's office swung open. Doyle stuck his head out. "Buffy. Hi."

His sister released the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. "Heya. Good night?"

Doyle nodded bashfully. "With another wolf in the room I was a lot calmer- I think. Last night's pretty blurry to be honest."

"Well, you haven't trashed the place so that's a start."

"Don't worry man, we all go through it," said Xander, clapping him on the back. "Where's the G-man?"

"I have told you repeatedly Alexander, not to call me that," said Giles, appearing from the library stacks, an old, leather bound book in his hands. "I found it Doyle- it was very useful reading for me when I was first turned and had no information about what was happening to me. It explains everything you may not want to ask Ethan or Tara."

Xander snorted. "Oh no, is that the Book o' Doom?" He shook his head at Doyle. "If you have insomnia, it makes great bedtime reading. Or a handy dandy door stop."

"As you can see, Alexander made good use of the book, which may explain a lot of his behaviour," rejoined Giles. "For those of us who are not imbeciles it is of great use." He pressed it into Doyle's hands. "It is not a suggestion for you to read it."

"Ok." He slipped it into the battered suitcase he'd brought from last night and shut the clasps. "Well, I guess that's it then. I'd better make a move if I don't want to be caught in the traffic."

Buffy came up to him and there was an awkward moment when Doyle wondered if she'd hug him or not. When she slipped her arms around him he clutched her closer to him and memorised the moment. "I will make this up to you Buffy," he muttered into her hair. "Somehow I will."

She squeezed him tighter. "Don't worry. I'm just glad you're not dying- that was my biggest fear. Next to that, being a werewolf seems not such a big deal."

He released her from his hold and picked up his suitcase. "That's why you're my favourite sister."

"I'm your only sister!"

"Thank goodness." Doyle winked at her and then walked out of the library doors. Buffy poked her head out after him.

"Say hi to Tara for me!"

"Will do! The invitation to come up still stands Buffy- I'll give you a call and we'll sort something out." She waved as she watched his figure disappear out of the front doors and into his beat up old car. The engine started, his hand came up to wave and then he was gone, in a cloud of exhaust fumes and dust.

She felt Giles join her. "He'll be alright you know. It's a good pack he's gone to join, and he's had your support."

"I know. I was so angry with him to start with, and now I just feel sort of useless."

Giles rested his hand on her shoulder in comfort. "There are a lot of people who would be a lot worse off without your support Buffy. You're a very good friend, and a very good sister."

"Thanks, Giles. You're not so bad yourself."

"Well I would hope I wasn't a good sister." The mood broken Buffy laughed.

"I don't know I think you'd look pretty good in a dress."

Xander poked his head out of the door. "What's this I hear? Giles in a dress? What kind of freakish nightmare is this?"

"The kind you have never had, Alexander," said the older man, shooing the teenagers out of his library. "Now get out so I can get some sleep. Some of us were up all night baby sitting."

"Ooh, Giles gets grumpy when he's had no sleep," said Willow as they escaped out into the bright sunshine. "I wonder what he's like without tea?"

"Don't even think about it Will. When Giles has no tea, the apocalypse will come."

"Xander!" Buffy exclaimed. "I can't believe you just said the 'A' word. You know nothing good ever happens when you say that."

"Sorry."

"Don't tell me you forgot we live on a Hellmouth!"

The teenager shrugged bashfully. "Sometimes, it slips my mind. I'm a guy! There's only so many things I can keep in there."

"Yeah, and none of it's useful."

The group walked in silence for a moment before a thought struck Buffy. "By the way, I never got to ask- how'd the Talent Show go?"

"Oh it was great," muttered Xander, "Willow got stage fright and ran off stage, I forgot my lines, so Spike lit up a cigarette and ended up doing a soliloquy about how life was crap for an artist, the audience thought it was a parody of postmodern expressionism and we won first place."

"Speak of the devil," said Buffy, as Spike came running up to them.

"Have you lot got any cigarettes on you?"

The trio frowned. "What are cigarettes?"

"Don't play dumb," Spike growled, already feeling the sting of the nicotine withdrawal. "Have you got any fags on you or not? I can't find mine."

"I've never heard of cigarettes, or 'fags'," said Willow frowning. "What do you do with them?"

"You smoke them you bloody stupid bint." The three teens gazed at each other in bemusement.

A horrible dawning realisation began to hit the werewolf. "You genuinely have no idea what I'm going on about do you?"

Buffy shook her head. "Nope, no clue. Are you sure that's what they're called?"

"Yes, I'm bloody sure." He grabbed a woman passing by. "Have you got any cigarettes on you love?"

The woman shook his hand from her arm and frowned. "Never heard of them."

"See," said Buffy. "It's not just us."

Spike raised his hands up helplessly. "It's like a bloody nightmare!"

"No it's not," said Xander, "A nightmare would be clowns with knives."

"Or performing on stage without knowing the script," chipped in Willow.

"Or being completely and utterly alone," shuddered Buffy. "I don't think not having any of these cigarette things is so bad, is it guys. Guys?"

There was silence. She turned but there was no-one there. Xander, Willow, Spike and even the woman walking past had all disappeared. The street was deserted.

"Oh, this is not good. Xander, I am going to kill you."

* * *

Xander and Willow exchanged glances with Spike. "Where'd Buffy go?"

Spike shrugged. "Probably off to wherever my bloody fags have gone. Wish I could have gone instead." He stalked off in the direction of the shops, to see if he could find someone who knew what the hell he was talking about, or if the whole world had gone nuts.

Xander fidgeted uncomfortably. "Why is it I get the feeling this is my fault?"

"Probably because it is," muttered Willow, grabbing his hand. "Come on, we need to find Giles and figure out what is going on."

"But it's Saturday! It should be illegal to be in school on a weekend."

"Ok," said Willow. "I'll go tell Giles what's going on and figure something out, whilst you hunt Angel down and tell him what's just happened to Buffy."

Xander grabbed her hand and began to run to the library. "Forget what I said before. I love school. We should totally be in on the weekends. Holidays too. Let's just spend forever in school."

* * *

**Please read and review! **

It makes me so happy to read all of your pleasant feedback. And I got the most reviews I've ever had for the last chapter, so thanks to all of my readers who left me a note or a few words . It really makes writing this story worth the time and effort :)

**And to all of my anonymous reviewers- Ally, Bella, Lizzy, Ryan and anyone else I've missed out, thanks for your support!**


	7. Nightmares

**Feedback:** YES! Feedback and criticism (but only constructive) is not only appreciated, it's one of the things that makes writing so much fun!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own BTVS, but I really wish I did. Angel leaving? Never would have happened.

**Pairing:** B/A (eventually), W/O, S/F

**Summary:** AU. **The prequel to Werewolves of L.A. **Buffy Summers is an ordinary girl, living a normal life, until her Mom gets a job as an art curator in a little town called Sunnydale. She thinks her life has come to an end. In fact, it's only just beginning…

* * *

"Well this is…lame," muttered Buffy, struggling and failing to come up with a word to accurately sum up having everyone she had ever known disappear from view.

The scene was exactly the same- cars were sat in the street engines running but nobody behind the wheel. An ice-cream floated in the air where someone had been eating it previously. A baseball bat was in mid swing in the park.

Everyone was gone. She utterly alone.

"Ok, don't panic. You're a Scooby now. Let's go fix this."

She sucked in a breath and headed towards the library. It was the same beautiful bright day but the citizens of Sunnydale were nowhere to be seen. Where there had been neighbours out for the weekend washing their cars, gardening or even walking down the road now they were gone, leaving only the items they had been using in their last moments. She refused the urge to peer in through the front windows of the properties to see televisions broadcasting to empty rooms, or cakes burning in ovens that would not be switched off. Someone's front door was half opened and shopping was sat next to it, waiting to be taken in.

In the distance she heard the sound of the ice-cream van, the lullaby music still playing out over its loudspeakers to children who would never come. The mechanised music made her shudder and she quickened her step.

Inside the school was cool and dark, and as she hurried down the corridors to the library she tried to squash the little hope that she had that Giles might still be inside. After all, he'd been preparing to go home and sleep only ten minutes ago, exhausted from keeping an eye on Doyle all night.

Had it really only been that long?

She shoved open the library doors. "Giles! Giles are you here?"

She opened his office door but there were only a stack of neatly folded papers and a set of keys on the table. Giles had obviously been ready to leave but maybe, just maybe he'd avoided whatever curse Xander had unleashed by being safe in the stacks? It sounded ludicrous even as her mind suggested it but she couldn't resist the temptation to enter the small number of bookshelves at the back of the library.

"Giles? Oh, please be here…" she trailed off.

But there was no response and it was with a horrible sinking feeling that she realised she would never be getting one from anybody if she didn't do something.

Six hours of research later she'd come up with nothing. Nada. Not even the tiniest hint of what might have happened to her, nor any sort of rescue plan to get her out of it. She'd trawled Giles's collection of books looking under spoken curses and witchcraft. She'd flicked through vanishing spells but they only made the practitioner vanish not everyone else. Then there'd been a whole really promising section on disappearance but it had only turned out to be about invisibility, and whilst she'd learnt a couple of nifty quick-fire incantations, she'd found zilch to explain what was happening.

Her stomach growled and she realized it was way past dinner time and the sun had begun to set. Skim reading all of those books on your own took its time and without Giles or Merrick there to point her in the right direction, or even for a general section to look under she was finding it harder than she'd anticipated. When her stomach gurgled loudly again she slammed shut the dragon skin bound book she'd been reading and headed home.

She silenced the little voice that reminded her it would be empty when she got there.

* * *

"Giles!" Xander and Willow burst through the library doors and skidded to a halt. The librarian was nowhere to be seen.

"You don't think I've made him vanish too, do you?"

"You better not have- I mean Buffy's not going to be happy to see you again but at least she doesn't grow claws and very sharp teeth when she gets angry."

Xander swallowed and called out again. "Giles! Yo, G-man!"

"Maybe he's in the faculty room…oh there you are!" The two teenagers exchanged looks. Giles had appeared from out of the stacks a bewildered expression on his face.

"Well, on the upside he's not likely to yell at me so badly if his brain has turned to mush," said Xander hopefully.

"Only you could see an upside to that situation," Willow hissed and then clicked her fingers in front of Giles' face. "Giles…wakey wakey!" He blinked rapidly and focussed on the children.

"I was, uh, in the stacks. I got lost."

"In your own library?"

The librarian coughed. "Yes well, you two never appear without some sort of disaster having occurred so what was it you wanted to see me about?"

"Oh, err, nothing. Ow!" Xander yelped. "Will-your elbows are really sharp and my skin is soft and easily dented."

"Like your brain?"

The boy scowled at Giles and the amused smile playing around his lips.

"Buffy's vanished. Ow! Ok, ok I was getting to that part." Xander rubbed his side. " I may or may not and that's the really important part, I might have done but I probably haven't… made Buffy disappear into thin air. "

Giles tapped his fingers on the wood of his desk. "Xander, tell me what happened from the start."

"I may have mentioned the 'A' word in a mildly irreverent way, and then Spike came up to us moaning about losing something called cigarettes and then we turn around and Buffy's gone, but you know I don't think we should jump to conclusions before we…"

"Xander you are a cretin," Giles interrupted, royally un-amused. "I have no idea what these 'cigarettes' are either, but it seems logical to conclude that wherever you made Buffy disappear to these cigarettes seem to have gone as well. I take it you haven't seen Angel yet?"

Xander winced. "No, but if we get her back then we'll never ever have to tell him I made his semi-girlfriend and their strange on-off relationship disappear into the ether."

"And if we see him before that?" Said Willow.

"Then we lie like we've never lied before. Tell him she's gone to stop with her Dad or she's gone to a funeral in another state, or…"

"It'll be your funeral if he finds out you've been lying to him as well as making Buffy vanish," said Giles, "and I think honesty may in fact be the best policy."

"No!" Said Xander adamantly. "Honesty leads to nothing but pain and bruising and social humiliation and normally death so let's not even go there."

"Alright," Giles shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Err guys, whilst you're having your little morality debate Buffy could be in a hell dimension for all we know, so don't you think we ought to start researching ways to find and extract her?" Willow crossed her arms.

The library doors slammed open. Little flakes of plaster drifted gently down to the floor and when the dust settled Angel was standing in the middle of the floor, radiating tension.

"Buffy's in a _what_ dimension?"

The redhead squeaked and pointed at Xander. "It's all his fault! Kill him not me!"

"Thanks Will, feeling the loyalty today." The boy sighed. "Punch me now and get it over and done with. The sooner I'm unconscious the happier everyone will be- ow!"

Angel cracked his knuckles. "That was a warm up. Now stand still and stop squirming."

* * *

The house seemed bigger and emptier without her Mom being there to fill it. Even when Buffy had been upstairs in her room, she'd never realised that just having another person in the house with you didn't make you feel so alone. And she missed her Mom's cooking already, and her smiles and even the slightly pointed questions about schoolwork and boyfriends.

As she watched the microwave heat up some pasta Buffy had managed to come up with one good point so far of her involuntary solitude. If there were no humans in Sunnydale then there didn't seem to be any vampires either. Or even anything vaguely humanoid. On the plus side nobody was having their blood sucked out. On the downside there was nobody. In fact the only things that did seem to be alive round here were the animals. There were plenty of stray cats roaming round and she'd broken into her neighbour's house to feed their dog, which she'd heard barking outside.

Sunnydale had become a ghost town…but there weren't even any ghosts.

The microwave sounded to announce it was done and she pulled out her steaming bowl of food. Flopping down on the sofa she shovelled the pasta in her mouth, burning her tongue in her haste. She pressed the remote and the television turned onto the local news channel. She knew it was the news because the little star logo with the company name had appeared at the bottom of the screen. But instead of presenters there were just an empty desk and two empty roller chairs facing the still rolling camera.

She switched it off abruptly, the pasta suddenly tasteless in her mouth. She mechanically put the rest of it in the bin, washed the dish and then went upstairs. She curled up in the middle of her Mom's bed. She pulled the duvet over her head, closed her eyes and pretended that in the morning, everything was going to be alright.

* * *

It was not.

The research was really getting to her. She set her hopes on each new book she pulled from the shelf only to read through it and hours later find it had nothing useful in it at all. The cycle would start all over again.

Finally, desperation beginning to gnaw at her she tried some basic magic. She'd found a locator spell which would locate the person or object named. All one needed was a map of the area you wanted to search and a few chanted words later (in a language Buffy was sure she was butchering horribly) and a pretty little ball of soft, yellow light was created. She'd found the geography section yesterday in her rummaging and she had a large atlas open on the table. For a safety check she tried her own name.

"Buffy Summers."

The ball flicked through the pages and promptly settled over Sunnydale instantly. She smiled.

"Ok. We'll just locate the gang and go from there. Rupert Giles."

The little ball of light glowed and then began to flick through the atlas, the pages spinning faster and faster and her smile began to dim considerably. Giles was not in America, nor in Europe, nor in fact any of the Western hemisphere. He wasn't in China or Japan or Russia and as the pages flicked faster it was clear he wasn't in the Eastern hemisphere. The atlas slammed shut. The little ball hung uncertainly for a moment and the glow dimmed.

"OK, just because Giles isn't…on Earth anymore doesn't mean no-one else is. Willow Rosenberg."

Again the little ball of light flared up, flicked through the pages and then stopped again. It hovered in hesitation. Fear began to register finally and she began to reel off names as the ball glowed hotter and hotter.

"Alexander Harris…Joyce Summers…Angel…" She realized with a jolt she'd never asked him his last name.

Still the pages flickered and the ball gave no sign of having found anyone. Dread began to creep up her spine – if there was nobody left in Sunnydale…was there anyone left anywhere? She almost didn't want to say it but the names tripped off her tongue before she could stop them.

"Johnny Depp, Hillary Clinton, Donatella Versace, Freddie Prince Junior, Britney Spears, the Queen of England!"

The ball flicked through the book and then gave a little sigh. It's glow died and with a small pop the light disappeared altogether as the spell faded.

"Ok," she rationalised. "I'm the only person left on Earth. That's ok. I won't let it get to me."

She took a deep breath and then exhaled, remembering calming techniques she'd seen her Mom do trying not to shout at her Dad in front of her when she'd been little. 'Maybe even now', she thought, hope flaring again, 'the gang are trying to find a way to leave wherever they are and come find me. It's ok, it's going to be ok.'

She burst into tears.

* * *

"So this isn't my fault?"

"Fortunately for you the answer appears to be no," pondered Giles, as he read the text in the small red book. "It seems to be more likely that it is in fact not due to your idiocy Xander, and more an unfortunate manifestation of some sort of reality manipulation. By whom and for what purpose I am as of yet still unclear."

"Ok, but this still hasn't solved the problem of where the hell Buffy is," Angel scowled.

"On top of that the weekend's almost over and what am I supposed to tell her Mom?" Said Willow. "There's only so much time we can pretend she's over at mine having a sleepover especially after what's happened. I had a hard time trying to convince Mrs Summers to let Buffy stop considering she's supposed to be grounded. If she remains away any longer we're going to have to tell her the truth."

"Yeah that her daughter just poofed into thin air," drawled Spike, "she's really gonna go for that one pet."

"Spike if you're not going to contribute anything useful then will you please shut up?" Snapped Giles.

"Hey you don't get to be snarky with me mate, I'm the one going through bloody nicotine withdrawal."

"Yes and we've had to listen to you moan about it for the past 48 hours. Believe me we've been suffering with you."

Spike threw himself down into one of the library chairs and propped his feet on the table muttering. "My fags bloody disappear nobody gives a damn, bit of fluff vanishes and suddenly it's the world's biggest crisis."

Angel snarled low in the back of his throat and the blonde backed down but didn't offer an apology. Giles rubbed his face tiredly.

"If Joyce asks where her daughter is, tell her that there's a field trip tomorrow that I will be taking the children on for a week. That should keep her out of our hair for a little while at least, and should give us enough time to figure out how to get Buffy back."

"Where shall I say you've gone?" Asked Willow nervously.

"Anywhere, just make it exotic." The librarian sighed. "At least then imaginary me is having a nice break. Lord knows I could use one."

* * *

For Buffy, the days dragged by.

She had a growing list of positives about living a life of complete isolation pinned to the fridge door as motivation for her to keep getting up in the mornings and not sink into a coma of depression.

1. No vampires or demons.

2. She could have been in the film Castaway. At last she had technology- Tom Hanks had had a volleyball.

3. She could do whatever she liked without consequence.

4. Next door's labrador – Scooter - had adopted her and now followed her around wherever she went. She'd never had a dog before.

She was still drawing a blank at number 5.

One week later the loneliness was being kept at bay by Scooter, who was content to pad after her happily wagging his tail. When he wasn't chewing up the books Buffy discarded in her research he was eating her socks and generally making a mess, but in any case he was always happy to be around her, and was at least as intelligent as Cordelia.

She'd pulled out the directory and begun calling strangers at random just to hear human voices on answer machine messages. Not even the thought of clothes shopping without payment cheered her up much. When the loneliness got too bad she'd take Scooter to the mall and try on whatever she liked and then take it home with her. Jimmy Choo shoes helped a little. The days now blended together in a haze of eating, researching, comfort shopping and sleeping. She sighed and Scooter glanced up from his position on Giles' chair where he'd been gnawing at the arm.

"Ok Scootmeister, one last book for today and then we'll go see what to grab from the supermarket. I promised waffles and syrup didn't I? And I feel like Chinese and ice-cream too so we'll have a feast hey boy?" Scooter banged his tail against chair happily.

"Good doggie. Ok, let's see, today's random choice of coma inducing text is…" Her eye caught the edge of a slim green book sticking out slightly from underneath the bookcase. "Universal quantum mechanics and Platonian philosophy and ethics: Or Is The World Around Us Real?"

Scooter whined. "Yeah I know. It's gonna be a long wait till dinner." She opened the front cover and in what she recognised as Giles' handwriting was a sticky note obviously written to himself:

_**Do not** let the children **ever, ever** read this book. Consequences of altering the causal universe and reality would be catastrophic to say the least!_

Buffy grinned to herself. "Oh Giles, big mistake." She turned the page and began to read aloud. "Chapter One: Destroying Your Universe."

Scooter whined again and the teenager sighed, slipping the book into her bag.

"Ok boy, you win. Waffles first, global destruction later."

* * *

Reality reintegration spells were apparently pretty easy to do if you had a circle of salt, a bit of blood, a black candle and you knew the right words to say. It was no wonder Giles had been worried about it falling into the wrong hands, though she was slightly hurt he hadn't trusted them enough to believe they wouldn't change the fabric of reality. Perhaps it was because he was British. They were always a bit uptight about ending the known universe.

She spread a large circle of salt around the library floor, and read over her notes again. It had taken her a couple of days to understand exactly what the book was saying, and another to know what she had to do and collect the necessary ingredients. She lit the candle and then held her finger over the flame, squeezing the blood out of it where she'd pricked it with a needle. The drop fell and the flame hissed, immediately turning black and then blood red, before fading to black again. Scooter eyed her from his corner by the door warily.

"Scooter," she hissed, "come over here you silly dog." The labrador refused to budge. "Scooter, come here boy. Scooter!"

She rolled her eyes. Labradors were supposed to be obedient but Scooter seemed to enjoy being as disobedient as possible.

"Fine. When reality folds don't blame me if you don't end up on the other side."

She began to mutter words from the book in what looked like backwards Latin. The sentences were long and hard and it took her enough time trying not to trip over her own tongue. It was only when Scooter began to whimper and hurried into the circle of salt with her, burying his head in her lap that she realised it was beginning to work. The edges of the library were growing wispy and black, like smoke and as she chanted faster and faster, gaining in confidence, the edges began to fade away, the room disappearing until she was chanting in complete darkness.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light. Something grabbed the back of her top and yanked hard. She tumbled backwards and opened her eyes. She found herself staring up at the library ceiling.

"Am I back?"

* * *

"Buffy!"

Xander, Willow and Giles ran to help her up.

She grinned and hugged her best friends tightly. "I have never been more grateful to see people in my life!" She turned and hugged Giles. "Oh I've missed you guys so much!"

"Yes, well, quite Buffy we've missed you too," the librarian said, clearly flustered.

There was a bark from her feet. "Scooter! You made it too, oh you clever doggy- guys this is my new dog Scooter, Scooter this is the gang, Willow, Xander and Giles." She squeezed her friends again and beamed. "I'm home!"

She punched the air and then patted Scooter's head in relief. "How long have I been gone?"

"The weekend and yesterday," supplied Giles.

"Oh, time's been all weird. I've been gone a fortnight. What've I missed?"

"Yesterday Wendall's book erupted in spiders." Xander reached around Willow's shoulder with his arm while wiggling his fingers. "Big, hairy, crawly..."

Willow twisted round and hit him.

"It's funny if you're me," protested Xander as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Giles has got lost in the stacks too many times to count. He's taken to tying rope around his middle whenever he goes in so he can come back out again."

"And is everyone else ok?"

"Laura got attacked today by something. It beat her pretty bad- shattered bones and internal bleeding. All Kendra managed to get out of her was Lucky 19."

"Right. Well that makes a whole boatload of sense."

"And apparently that's the second time it's happened. There was another kid- but he's in a coma."

"That reminds me…" Buffy smacked Xander round the head.

"Ow! Will people please stop hitting me!"

"That's for jinxing us all and making me spend a fortnight in a world with no-one else."

Xander grimaced. "Yeah, I really am sorry about that Buffy. On the other hand it wasn't my fault!" Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Giles thinks it's someone altering reality, manipulating it somehow."

"Alexander is correct- though I am not sure how this change is happening or why."

"Oh. Sorry Xand."

The boy shrugged as the bell for classes began to ring. "Don't worry about it."

Buffy turned to Giles. "Can you look after Scooter for me please? Just for today whilst school is on. Then I'll take him off your hands and you won't have to dogsit ever again. Please?" She wheedled.

Before he could open his mouth to reply Buffy had hugged him. "Thanks Giles!" And then she was out of the door followed by Xander and Willow, leaving the librarian with the labrador sitting at his feet. He sighed.

"What am I going to do with you?"

Scooter wagged his tail and began to chew Giles' shoe.

* * *

It felt strange to be walking down the school corridors filled with students on their way to class. The three teenagers passed Cordelia being dragged by a group of gangly boys into the chess club.

"No!" Cordelia was shouting, struggling to release their grip on her arms. "What are you doing! Hey, no! You don't understand! I don't wanna go!" She screamed and grabbed the door posts. "I'm not even on the chess team! I swear, I'm not!" Her fingers slipped as they tugged at her and the door slammed shut.

Xander raised an eyebrow as he entered the french classroom. "Well, it looks like I've just found the upside to this funky situation."

"I'm glad you find Miss Chases' efforts to improve herself laughable Monsieur Harris," scolded the french teacher. "Perhaps you would care to put on some clothes?"

The girls exchanged confused looks and then turned to look at Xander. Only his boxers remained on his body. The rest of his clothes had vanished.

"Xander! What happened to your...?"

"I-I-I dunno! I was, uh, dressed a minute ago! It's a dream. It's gotta be a dream." He pinched himself hard. "Ow! Wake up. Ow! Gotta wake up."

The french teacher rolled her eyes. "Xander, this is clearly not a dream. Kindly remove yourself from my classroom until you are ready to appear fully dressed."

Xander nodded, his cheeks flaming red and then turned tail and fled, Willow and Buffy chasing after him down the corridor.

Buffy suddenly knocked into something hard. She grinned. "Spike! I can't believe I'm going to say this but it's great to see you again."

"That's fab fluffy, glad you're back," said Spike sarcastically, "but did you bring any of my fags back? English says they might have disappeared off to wherever you went."

"Um, sorry nope. No fags in the world with no people either."

Spike screamed and ran off again back down the corridor, punching a boy in the face who was walking past. Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Well, he took that well."

She continued to walk, though she had completely lost Xander and Willow. The corridors were fairly empty as most students were now in class and spotting the Principal at the bottom of the corridor on his patrol to catch unwary students; she ducked into an empty classroom and closed the door.

"Buffy?"

She turned at the sound of her name and beamed. "Angel!"

* * *

"Now astral projection is the theory that while one sleeps one has another body, a-an astral body, which can travel through time and space…"

"Um Giles? I think that might be a bit complex. Scooter's bright but I think that might be beyond even him. I'd start with 'sit' if I were you."

The librarian straightened and coughed, as Buffy and Angel walked through the doors. "But hey, if you want to teach my dog Neoplatonist theory go ahead." Buffy grinned and sat down in Angel's lap as Scooter came running up to her. "Hey baby, what was Uncle Giles teaching you? Aren't you a clever doggy?"

Giles spluttered. "Neoplatonist theory? How on earth did you know…"

"I had to read a lot of very, very dull books to get back here Giles, all of which you own. I read so much it began to stick unfortunately." Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Including a certain book under the bookshelf that you may want to consider hiding elsewhere?"

Giles' eyes widened but before he could reply Willow and Xander walked in, and the librarian was once again struggling for words.

"W... where are your other clothes?"

"Oh, don't I wish I had the answer to that question," said Xander grouchily, pulling on a gym shirt.

"Xander kinda found himself in front of our class not wearing much of anything," Willow explained.

"Except my underwear."

She giggled. "Yeah! It was really...bad. It was a bad thing." She snorted at Xander's dirty look.

"'Bad thing'? I was naked. 'Bad thing' doesn't cover it. It was a total nightmare."

Willow frowned. "Well, yeah Xander- it's your nightmare! Like it happened to Wendell. That thing with the spiders? Wendell had a recurring dream about that."

Things quickly began to sink into place. "I-I dreamt that I got lost in the stacks... of course!" Said Giles.

"Everyone disappeared around me," chipped in Buffy, "and Spike's lost his fags, Cordelia's joining the chess team."

"Faith is fighting the urge to wear pink and stroke kittens," added Angel.

Xander choked. "Excuse me?"

"She got sent home this afternoon. Her leather trousers turned pink. She punched a lot of people."

"Ah." Giles opened the local paper and scanned down the articles, flipping through pages, searching for something.

"So uh, our dreams are coming true?"

"Dreams? That would be a musical comedy version of this. Nightmares, our, our nightmares are coming true," lamented Giles, "and I think I know why." He motioned to the article in the paper. "We already know that Laura was attacked and that when Kendra and Merrick went to the hospital she mentioned Lucky 19. There's another boy in the hospital, beaten like Laura except he's in a coma. He was a Little League player – number 19." Giles smacked the table in success. "Somehow I think he's crossed over from the nightmare world he's trapped in."

"And he brought the nightmare world with him. Thanks a bunch, Billy," said Xander. He turned to Angel. "I am expecting an apology at some point. Billy caused the end of the world, not Xander."

The older boy raised an eyebrow and growled something back at him that Buffy didn't understand but made Willow blush and Giles clear his throat.

Buffy caught her friend's eye. "Tell me what he said later," she mouthed. Willow nodded.

"Speaking of Kendra and Merrick- is anyone else slightly concerned that we haven't seen them recently?" Offered Buffy, trying to diffuse the tension in the room.

Giles blanched. "And considering what those two are likely to dream about things are not going to be pleasant. We can't have an incapacitated Slayer at a time like this!"

"Ok so the plan is: stop evil. Find slayer. Nice - a plan in four words. We should do that more often," said Xander.

Giles folded his arms. "And soon. Or else everyone in Sunnydale is going to be facing their own worst nightmares."

"Um, I don't wanna worry anyone but we now have giant wasps outside," said Willow peering through the library blinds.

"Oh it's not the wasps you need to worry about my little wolves," said a voice from the doorway. The man who had spoken was tall, well muscled, with stubble covering his strong jaw. He flashed a dark look at Giles and raised his shotgun. "Rupert. It's been a long time."

Giles blanched. "You're dead."

"Didn't stick," the man laughed and sighted him down his gun. "Now just stand still and let me finish what I started nearly 3 decades ago."

"Move!"

Giles pushed everyone out of the way and leapt, missing the bullet that exploded out of the shotgun as he jumped behind the stack. The silver bullet shattered the wooden balustrade, splinters flying everywhere.

Willow and Xander had moved with only the speed being a werewolf could give them, as Angel grabbed Buffy and carried her with him as he'd leapt for the safety of the bookshelves. He kept a tight grip on her as they sheltered in the maze of shelves, his fingers curling protectively into her top, ready to take her with him when they needed to run. Humans simply wouldn't be able to keep up.

"Rupert! It's not very sporting of you to move!" The hunter called.

"Who the hell is the gun toting psycho?" hissed Buffy.

"Balthan." Giles' replied tightly, his face white.

"And he is?"

"A bounty hunter."

"Come out, come out little werewolf," called Balthan reloading his gun. "Or are you going to die like the coward your father was?"

Buffy shot Giles a look. She'd never seen him look so furious.

"He died begging for me to spare him," the hunter taunted. "And then I blew his brains all over the kitchen wall, so I guess that didn't pan out for him."

The blood was pounding in Giles' temples; his claws were retracting out of his hands. "Giles don't let him get to you," urged Buffy. "We need to escape and then we can fight him. Here he has the advantage. He'll just blow stuff up till he finds us."

Giles nodded and with a great deal of effort he focussed his mind. "There's a window at the back- we can crawl out of that."

Silently the group made their way towards the back of the library when Scooter began to bark. Buffy stopped moving and made to turn back the way they'd been going. Angel's steel grip on her meant she wasn't going anywhere however.

"What a sweet dog!" called Balthan. "It'd be a shame to have to kill him. Unless that little human you've got with you would like to come out and strike a bargain?"

"Angel, let me go," whispered Buffy.

He bent down and pressed his lips to her ear. "You go out there he'll kill you or use you as a hostage to get us back out. You're expendable to him. Being human gives you no protection."

Scooter barked again. There was a loud thump and the dog began to whimper. "That was your first strike," called Balthan. "Can't say fairer than that."

Buffy scrabbled at Angel's fingers. "I can't just stand here while he tortures my dog! Please."

"I'm sorry, but you're not going anywhere." He turned to Willow. "Get that window open and take her through it."

Buffy sighed and murmured something under her breath. "I'm sorry too." She pressed her lips against his hard and then promptly disappeared.

"Buffy!" Angel cursed under his breath.

"Get out of the window and go. I'll be fine," came a disembodied voice to his left and he caught the faint scent of her skin before she was gone.

Giles touched Angel's shoulder in comfort. "Come, do as she says. Buffy seems to have come back from her little trip with all sorts of new skills. No doubt she will be fine."

Buffy watched from a shadowed corner of the stacks as Angel reluctantly turned away to help Willow through the open window. Once they were all safely through she made her way as quietly as she could back to the front of the library. She located Scooter who was sat shivering in a corner, watching Balthan warily.

"I'm here, just like you wanted," she called out, before her anger got the better of her. Balthan moved his gun instantly to where he heard her voice, and she chuckled at his expression when there was no-one there.

"So you're not a little human after all," the hunter replied, "you're a little witch, playing with the big bad wolves."

"Oh no, I'm as human as they come," said Buffy slowly walking down the steps. "But I've had a lousy two weeks and in that time I just picked up a few things here and there."

Balthan's grip on his gun tightened slightly. "You're cheating."

"You're the one with the gun. Now who's cheating? In a fair fight Giles would kick your ass."

Balthan smirked. "Please sweetheart, you have too much faith in your little wolves. I've killed more wolves than you've had boyfriends, and once Giles is gone, I can add him to the rather nice collection of furs I have of his family."

Buffy's fists clenched. But whilst the hunter had been taunting her, he'd let his guard down. She slipped quietly behind him and smacked him across the head with the library telephone.

The shot gun went off, the bullet skimming her head and ploughing a hole into the wall behind her. Before he could do anything else she did the best move she knew. She kneed him in the crotch.

"That was for trying to kill my friends." She kicked him harder and Balthan dropped to the ground.

"That was for hurting my dog and this," she kicked him again, before smacking him once again with the phone. The hunter groaned. "Was for being an asshole."

She undid the invisibility spell that she'd cast. "Scooter honey, come on." She opened the library door even as Balthan narrowed his eyes in anger. "Quick before the evil guy gets the feeling back in his balls."

The labrador yipped and they both bolted down the corridor as the hunter roared in rage. "Get to the car Buffy, just get to the car," she muttered to herself. She burst through school doors, down the steps and fled across the road, almost colliding with her friends as she did so.

"I thought I told you guys to go!" she yelled.

"I thought I told you not to go back!" Angel argued. "What do you think you were-"

A bullet exploded into a tree trunk by her head. "Run now, fight later!" She shouted, tugging Angel's arm as she began to race for her SUV. "I may have angered the gun guy a little."

"Really?" Xander deadpanned. A bullet gouged a hole into the ground by them, dirt spraying up in clouds. "Because he seemed such a nice guy before."

"So what's the plan?" Asked Willow, her hair streaming behind her.

"I'd got as far as find Mom's car. Drive off. Live," panted Buffy.

"Good plan. I'd go with that," said Xander as the wolves sped up. Angel gripped the back of Buffy's jeans with one hand and Scooter in the other and carried them effortlessly as the wolves reached even faster speeds.

"How's he keeping up with us?" Said Buffy, peering over Angel's shoulder. "Human's shouldn't be able to keep up."

"This is a nightmare Buffy," Giles reminded her. "Be grateful we can run at speed at all."

"On another note," asked Xander, "is anyone slightly reminded of Jumanji at this point?"

"Not really the time," Willow breathed, "but the answer's yes."

Another bullet zipped past their ears. "He's getting better with his aim."

"I hadn't noticed," Giles snapped.

"There's the car!" Buffy yelled. "Get in, get in!" The group piled in and thanking her Mom for leaving the keys in the ignition she pressed the pedal down, just as Scooter leapt into the back seat, squashing Willow, Xander and Giles.

The car roared off, tyres squealing as a bullet blew off one of the wing mirrors.

"Mom is totally gonna kill me for that."

"Buffy! Look out!"

* * *

**Please read and review! **

It makes me so happy to read all of your happy feedback :) Most reviews ever for the last chapter - my readers totally rock my socks! Thanks for being so supportive. Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter I know I had great fun writing it. And to all of my anonymous reviewers: Bella, Ryan, Ally, Lizzy, Amy, Paris and Sarah, you guys are shy but I love you anyway!

P.S Does anyone know Angel's last name? If not I'd love some suggestions for what it could be.

**xxx**


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